NOT YOUR MOTHER’S JEWELRY

There was a time when just about every woman longed to have a piece of jewelry, no matter how modest. It was something personal, and precious to the owner. It might have been handed down in a family, or a gift from a loved one. The fact of its being in an earlier style made it even more special – it had a history.

Now, we tend to look upon jewelry differently. Granny’s necklace may have been stylish in its day, but can I really wear that now? My mother loves gold jewelry from the 1930’s and 40’s but isn’t that out-of-date now?

The fact is, beautiful things never go out of style. Not only is”what is old is new again” – it never really went out of fashion.

Every woman should own at least one great and distinctive piece of jewelry. By great, I don’t necessarily mean big, precious stones. I am talking about jewelry that was designed with imagination, and built by skilled jewelers who cared about details. Some of the most interesting jewelry has very little of intrinsic value – it is about great design. We like jewelry that has a “personality” – something about it that is unique, original, eloquent, and that speaks of its period, but in a way that defines the period, rather than merely following it.

Every period of recent jewelry history has beautiful and wearable pieces to offer that transcend the ordinary, be it Georgian, Victorian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, 1930’s Modernist, 40’s “Retro”, 50’s, with its textured gold, lots of colors, and humorous themes, and 60’s, with it’s bold use of stones and enamels, and it’s new take on Art Deco. The best jewelry pieces are strong and self-contained – perfectly proportioned and designed with care and, often with humor.

We are now, in fact, seeing a return to certain jewelry styles from the 50’s – bangle bracelets, charm bracelets, button earrings. From the Sixties, we are seeing long gold chains and necklaces, with or without stones, and hoop earrings.

That heavy gold Retro bracelet that your mother bought twenty years ago or perhaps even inherited from her mother is just as striking now, as is that 1930’s cocktail ring. Those hanging Victorian earrings are so distinctive and flattering – dare I say feminine? Sexy? The 1950’s and 60’s produced jewelry that was full of humor and imagination – these things never go out of fashion.

We are constantly lending jewelry to fashion magazines, and we are being asked for heavy gold jewelry from the 1930’s that an elegant woman would wear for an evening out. We are being asked for dramatic yellow gold jewelry of any period. We are being asked for Art Deco diamond bracelets. Fashion magazines are showing glamour and a sophisticated diversity in their choices of jewelry to accessorize an outfit.

Jewelry can be so much more than just a “fashion accessory”. The best pieces of jewelry are artful – they have a certain quality that sets them apart from more mundane pieces, and this is the kind of jewelry that we have been offering to our clients for 40 years. We have seen styles come in to fashion, go out of fashion, and then come in again, sort of like the tides…

Now that so many women find themselves most comfortable in jeans and a jacket, why not wear a distinctive brooch, a smashing bracelet, or an interesting pair of earrings? Every woman should have at least one “signature” piece of jewelry.

There are many areas being explored now in contemporary jewelry design by individual “studio” designers, such as the spare, geometric designs of Giampaolo Babetto, each executed by him in 18k gold, some with textured enamels. Small studios are creating original designs, many in new materials that are fresh and modern, such as the “Superleggere” necklaces and bracelets of GianCarlo Montebello, made from intricately laser-cut steel.

There really is no reason not to explore the fascinating world of jewelry – there is just the right piece out there, waiting for you to discover it, and be it Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco, Retro, 50’s or 60, or contemporary, it is not your mother’s jewelry – it is yours.


Jewelry images from left to right: Sterle, 18k gold and multi-stone necklace; Buccelatti, 18k gold and yellow beryl ring; Buccelatti, 18k gold and 4 ct. diamond ring; Boucheron, 18k gold necklace that can also be worn as three separate bracelets; Babetto, 18k white gold with red and black niello, pigment; Montebello, 18k gold hoops and three stainless steel pendants.


Audrey Friedman

This article is copyright- protected, and may not be excerpted or reproduced in any form without the consent of Audrey Friedman at Primavera Gallery NY.

Snakey Things

There is no question that we are both fascinated and repelled by snakes. Putting aside Freud and phallic symbols, and Genesis with the demon serpent, we get to Charles Darwin. Snakes are potentially dangerous, and our brain instantly responds to anything that resembles a snake because any earlier ancestors who weren’t so alert, might not have lived to pass on their genes. We are by far not the only species highly sensitized to snakes, but unlike the others, we can make jewelry.

Snake-themed jewelry can serve as a protective amulet – wear the thing you fear, and it will protect you from that thing. This is one reason for the popularity of snakes in jewelry, and when you factor in Freud and Genesis, the serpent becomes even more compelling. The symbolism can also be reversed – rings designed as a snake with its tail in its mouth symbolized Eternity, at least in English jewelry –I can’t speak for everyone else. A diamond Eternity ring was and still is a very popular wedding band. The Eternity snake is also found on Memorial and Memento Mori jewelry from earlier periods.

Snakes lend themselves so well to jewelry, particularly rings. They can twine up the finger in a life-like way, or be just one elegant coil. In any form, snake jewelry demands our attention, and isn’t it nice to have people notice your jewelry?

Images top to bottom (l-r): Victorian gold and diamond serpent ring, ca. 1880; Memorial ring, ca. 1833, the eternity snake with its tail in its mouth can be seen surrounding the central motif; Diamond and emerald serpent ring, ca. 1920's; Ruby, diamond and emerald snake cufflinks, England, 19th c., Double headed serpent ring with rubies, England, ca. 1900; Edwardian platinum serpent ring with sapphire, diamonds, and rubies, England, ca. 1910.

*Please contact us if you are interested in acquiring any of these pieces.

Audrey Friedman

This article is copyright- protected, and may not be excerpted or reproduced in any form without the consent of Audrey Friedman at Primavera Gallery NY.

Salvador Dali’s Ruby Lips

We consider ourselves very fortunate to own one of Dali’s most iconic pieces of jewelry - the Ruby Lips With Teeth Like Pearls. Dali took this cliché, and created a fabulous and sexy brooch. The full, curving lips are paved with beautiful rubies. The teeth, naturally, are very fine pearls. This brooch gets lots of attention. I wore it a while back to a museum dinner, and a male acquaintance of mine actually stooped down and kissed them!

Dali is arguably the most famous of the Surrealist artists. Just the name Dali evokes images of the bizarre. This is due, in part, to his flamboyant personality and mania for self-promotion, but is also the result of the precision of his technique, his fascinating images of simulated but convincing paranoia, and of course, his extravagant personality -– he was almost a living embodiment of the figures in his surreal world.

Dali had always been interested in translating his ideas into precious jewelry. It was during the 1940’s and 1950’s that he actually created a body of jewelry based on his singular, surrealist images. Some of the designs for these jewels were taken directly from his paintings. He wanted to transform the two dimensional into the third dimension, and loved adapting his images to precious, small sculptures that could be worn.

Quite a lot of his jewelry, though, is too big to actually wear. When we had the opportunity to visit the Dali Museum in Figueras, Spain, we were surprised by the scale of many of the pieces, which we had previously only seen in books. The genius of these pieces is staggering – it was truly an awe-inspiring experience to see these pieces before us.

Dali’s first jewels were commissioned by a wealthy Scandinavian businessman named Eric Ertmann, and these jewels and objets d’art caused a sensation when they were shown at the1954 Milan Triennial. The collection was full of richness and exuberance, and was widely admired and quite influential. In 1958, the Owen Cheatham foundation acquired the collection, which was subsequently exhibited around the world, giving a wealth of new images to jewelry design.

Of course, the success of the collection led to private commissions and to the production of some of the jewels in simpler and less labor-intensive versions -- using enamel instead of rubies and emeralds, for example. Dali developed images especially for a more “mass” market, such as the crossed dove’s wings, meant to symbolize peace. These were done as earrings and rings, with and without stones.

In 1961, Dali participated in the historically important “International Exhibition of Modern Jewelry” at Goldsmiths Hall in London.

Dali’s entrance into the area of jewelry design was important for several reasons:

Firstly, he was an artist of international stature, a genius in his own twisted and very original way. When any artist does jewelry, it is always interesting to take a look. His jewelry designs successfully bridged the gap between art and ornament -- no mean achievement, and something that few great artists who tried their hand at jewelry were able to do as successfully.

His ideas gave a burst of fresh energy to post-war design. Here were new images and ideas to play with. He not only gave courage to other artists to try jewelry, but also had a great influence on the American studio movement.

Today, his pieces are highly sought-after, but caution to the collector – there are pieces on the market that are copies, especially of the Ruby Lips and the Eye of Time. Dali also did editions of jewelry that were quite ugly - long ropy things of twisted figures and blobs. They were done in unknown quantity, and have little artistic merit.

Dali produced his jewels with the help of several people. Mr. Ertman, as I mentioned, provided the money. Mr. Carlos B. Alemany was a jeweler who organized the fabrication and eventual selling of the designs. He had a shop in the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. The actual bench - work was done by Charles Valliant, of the 47th Street workshop of Valliant and Devere.

We have loaned Ruby Lips to so many museum exhibitions that I have not been able to wear it for quite a few years. After being in a museum show in Belgium of Artist’s jewelry, the Lips went off to the “Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design” exhibition that opened in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and traveled for several years to venues in Europe and North America. We were told that the Ruby Lips were among the most popular pieces in the exhibition. They will be on view soon at the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, from August 7, 2010 until January 9, 2011, in an exhibition called Dali: The Late Works.

We are also fortunate to have a fabulous gold box with the Leaf-Veined Hand, ornamented with cabochon ruby nails. Like the Ruby Lips, this piece has also been in many exhibitions, as can also been seen at the High Museum.

Audrey Friedman

This article is copyright- protected, and may not be excerpted or reproduced in any form without the consent of Audrey Friedman at Primavera Gallery NY.

A Rare and Unusual Bauhaus Tea Service On View at Primavera Gallery

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is not the only place to see decorative objects produced by the Bauhaus. While the exhibition, Bauhaus 1919-1939: Workshops for Modernity, does include beautiful examples of metalwork created by the avant-garde art school, our own gallery exhibition, Art Deco Revisited, also features a special Marianna Brandt designed tea service (ca. 1924) that was executed by the Metallwerkstatte at the Bauhaus in Weimar.

This four piece tea service includes a teapot, a cream jug, a sugar basin and a tray. The set is made of brass and copper with wooden handles. The construction of this tea service, along with the materials used, is exemplary of the work that was produced by the Bauhaus. The form as well as the some of the design attributes such as the “X” feet, the lids and the finials are very similar to other works specifically designed by Brandt but the rectilinear and angular handles, not seen in other objects of this nature, make this tea service very rare and unusual.

Marianna Brandt (1893-1983) joined the Bauhaus metal workshop in 1923, during which time it was under the guidance of László Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian- born artist and graphic designer. However, prior to joining the art school, in 1917, Brandt had opened her own design studio. Moholy-Nagy’s influence on her work can be seen in the severe geometric forms of the household objects, such as ashtrays, lamps and tea and coffee services, which she designed. Moholy-Nagy recognized the young designer’s talents immediately and she soon became his assistant. In 1928 she succeeded her mentor and became the department’s first female director. Her involvement with the Bauhaus ended in 1932. While she was mostly unemployed during the war, she taught in various institutions in Dresden and Berlin during the late 1940’s and 1950’s. Some of her designs are still produced today by companies such as Alessi and Tecnolumen.

This tea service is central to our exhibition on Art Deco because it demonstrates the different strands of this important movement that took place in the early part of the twentieth-century. While the Art Deco period if often associated with glamorous, expensive and luxurious interiors full of elegant furniture made of exotic woods and classically inspired glass and ceramics, there was also another more somber and functional feature of this movement, which was influenced by Constructivist and Cubist art. The Brandt tea service embodies this latter category. We invite you to visit us and explore the beauty of this time period and the works of the many talented designers who contributed to it.

Bella Neyman, Associate Director, Primavera Gallery

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ART DECO REVISITED

Primavera Gallery will be having an exhibition entitled ART DECO REVISITED, which will run from November 12, 2009 through February 28, 2010. We will be showing beautiful examples of furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, sculpture and works on paper that showcase various aspects of the Art Deco movement, as well as a few selected examples of later pieces that were influenced by Art Deco.

We were motivated to put together this exhibition not only because Art Deco has been an important focus of our gallery for the past 40 years, but also because there is so little coming onto the market now, and with the recent focus on contemporary design, we feel that young collectors, who do not have a great deal of opportunity to see fine Art Deco pieces, may be overlooking this great design period.

Included in this exhibition will be furniture by Jean-Jacques Adnet, Andre Arbus, Jules Bouy, Adolphe Chaneaux, Jean Pascaud, Eugene Rollin, Süe et Mare, Maxime Old, and Raymond Subes, a fabulous dressing table by Paul Iribe that was made for Madame Spinelly, when he designed her fabulous Paris apartment, and a great cheval mirror/dressing table by Jules Leleu.

Glass by Daum Frères, André Thuret, Aristide Colotte, and Italian glass from the 1930’s.

Silver and metalwork by Desny, including a very rare complete example of their iconic cocktail set, Jean Desprès, Daurat, Jean Dunand, Claude Linossier, and Tétard Frères.

Ceramics and porcelain by Jean Mayodon, Émile Decoeur, Edouard Cazaux, Maurice Gensoli, Celine Lepage, Sèvres, Jean Besnard.

Sculpture by Alfred-August Janniot and Pierre Traverse, works of art by Cassandre, Jean Dupas, Raphaël Delorme and Jean Lurcat.

Jewelry by Raymond Templier, including a spectacular piece in 18k white gold set with turquoise and onyx. Striking pieces by Jean Desprès, a beautiful brooch in the Persian taste by Tiffany & Co. in platinum, onyx and coral, a Marcus and Co. articulated bow brooch in platinum, diamonds and pearls, several pieces by Suzanne Belperron, Cartier, and, of course, our beautiful jewels from all periods.

We welcome the opportunity to talk with you, and hope you will visit the gallery to see and enjoy this elegant and exciting show.

Audrey Friedman

This article is copyright- protected, and may not be excerpted or reproduced in any form without the consent of Audrey Friedman at Primavera Gallery NY.

What's Hot in Jewelry Now

Anyone who has been following the prices of jewelry at auction for the past ten years or so has likely become aware of several trends. Firstly, the pieces that seem to generate the most interest and sell way over their estimates are not the diamond and jewel-studded pieces of conventional design, but rather the exciting, interesting pieces of period jewelry, often with few stones of value. Signatures are in demand, with pieces designed by the important houses and designers commanding ever increasing prices.

Jewelry buyers are becoming increasingly aware of the superiority of design and craftsmanship that period jewelry has to offer. Today’s savvy buyers are quite sophisticated regarding the value of great design and workmanship. Even un-signed jewelry, especially French pieces, were, up until the late 1960’s, beautifully made -- routinely of a quality that today is rarely found even in expensive pieces from the best houses. It’s just too expensive to make jewelry the way it was made before.

We are also seeing heightened interest in earlier jewels. We can’t keep up with requests for fine and unusual early rings, earrings and necklace, from the 18th and 19th centuries, and the clients for these pieces are young women.

There is also strong interest in more “modern” jewelry -- the 1950’s and 1960’s, both for the classics these periods produced, such as the enameled animals of David Webb, to the more extreme designs featuring raw crystals, spiky designs and heavily textured gold of Andrew Grima or Arthur King.

The more extreme designs influenced by studio jewelry, and using unusual, often rough stones and experimental gold techniques are still inexpensive, and we have a number of young, artistic clients who find these pieces exciting.

We are constantly approached by stylists for all the important magazines asking to borrow jewelry for editorial shoots. They have been asking for interesting pieces in yellow gold from the 1930’s and 40’s, as well as Art Deco. Yellow gold is definitely back in fashion again. Earrings are hot items - hoop earrings are particularly in demand right now, as are long gold necklaces and bangle bracelets. How true it is that “what was old is new again.” ‘80's shoulder pads are back, and so is stylish jewelry of all periods.

Images top to bottom: Cartier, Paris Coral and 18k Gold Rose brooch, ca.1950, Diamond and Emerald Serpent ring, ca. 1925, Antique Diamond necklace, ca. 1885 , Arthur King Baroque Pearl and 18k Gold brooch, ca. 1960, Hermes 18k Gold Floral link necklace, ca. 1960.

Audrey Friedman

This article is copyright- protected, and may not be excerpted or reproduced in any form without the consent of Audrey Friedman at Primavera Gallery NY.