Design Miami/Basel 2016 : The Museum of Artists’ Jewellery; an Introduction: 1935 - 2016

We are delighted to be presenting our latest exhibition The Museum of Artists’ Jewellery; an Introduction: 1935-2016. Find us at Design Miami/Basel Stand B12. 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Jewellery made or designed by artists straddles the murky gully between design, jewellery, and art. Historically it has been a floating genre of individual objects for which examples could be found in any number of auction sales from Impressionist and Modern Art or 20th Century Design to Fine Jewellery. The existence of these jewels has been, for most people, a chance revelation stumbled upon whilst looking for something else.

Though there are now more exhibitions and dealers dedicated to the subject than ever before, this sporadic distribution has meant the breadth and depth of the area has remained obscured from public view. “The Museum of Artists’ Jewellery; an Introduction” is an immersive installation conceived by Louisa Guinness Gallery which aims to redress this.

“The Museum of Artist Jewellery” offers a rare opportunity to see artist-made jewellery in relative terms: to judge the success of one artist’s attempt against another’s to grapple with the demands of function and scale. We hope to leave our visitor with a sense of engagement with the genre as a prism through which to view and understand some of the greatest creative minds of the past 80 years.

ABOUT THE GALLERY

Louisa Guinness Gallery works with today's leading sculptors and painters to create jewellery as well as collecting and dealing in works by master artists.

In 2013 the gallery moved  to a new space at 45 Conduit Street. This space remains the first ever gallery space dedicated exclusively to exhibiting artists jewels. It houses a rotating exhibition programme, showing works by gallery artists such as Anish Kapoor, Sophia Vari, Claude Lalanne and Mariko Mori as well as pieces by 20th century masters such as Picasso, Calder, Man Ray and Fontana.

The gallery opened in May 2003 with its inaugural exhibition 'Past and Present; Jewellery by 20th Century Artists'. With this show Louisa Guinness departed from her original focus on artist-made furniture into the world of artist's jewels. Since then she has worked on over 18 separate projects with leading contemporary artists.

Each new work is published in a small edition to the highest standard. All works are made by hand either in London's famous Hatton Garden, or in the artist's studio, and each piece is signed and numbered. At once jewellery and mini-sculpture, each piece holds an important place in the artists' wider body of work.