Exhibition - American Modernist Jewelry 1940 -1970

One of the first major exhibitions to focus on American modernist jewelry from such an extensive group of artists, this exhibition brings together the work of over 90 artists who broke away from the mainstream of jewelry design and looked to the fine arts for inspiration; they were Surrealists, Cubists, and Abstract Expressionists. They were sculptors in small scale, painters in enamels, and architects in miniature. The modernist metalsmiths of the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s created experimental work and laid the groundwork for the enormous expansion of metalsmithing that took place in the 1970s.

These artists borrowed from the philosophies and techniques of ancient art. Inspirations came from mysticism, ethnographic art, Etruscan art and Byzantine enameling and they rediscovered the techniques of granulation, plique-a-jour, en resille, glass fusing and also chartered new territory through the use of plastics, found objects, centrifugal casting, and kineticism. Included are jewelry and sculpture by such key artists as Harry Bertoia, Alexander Calder, Margret Craver, Margaret de Patta, Robert Ebendorf, Claire Falkenstein, Sam Kramer, Ibram Lassaw, Peter Macchiarini, Earl Pardon, merry renk, Art Smith, Ed Wiener, and former Indiana University art professor, Alma Eikerman, among others.

Drawn from private collectors and living artists around the country as well as Indiana University Art Museum, this exhibition of over 280 pieces is guest curated by Marbeth Schon and will coincide with the publication of her new extensively researched book on this subject, Form & Function: The Evolution of American Modernist Jewelry, 1940-1970.

Date: May 3 – August 24, 2008