Art Nouveau: Jewels and Jewelers

Abstract

The Art Nouveau movement, with its startling concepts in design, swept through Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The asymmetrical whiplash line which typifies Art Nouvem was manifested in art, architecture, metalwork, textiles, and interior design. Perhaps its most concentrated and refined expression can be seen in the spectacular Art Nouveau jewels, which incorporated more unusual gems and gem materials such as moonstones, horn, ivory, opal, turquoise, and tourmalines into a host of fanciful designs. This article discusses the origins of Art Nouveau and outlines the distinctive interpretations and contributions made b y significant Art Nouveau jewelers.

"Voices of the Earth": Transcending the Traditional in Lapidary Arts

“…In addition to the pieces created by Bernd Munsteiner and other German carvers, the work of North American gem artists has been built on a long tradition of Roman and Greek seals and mosaics (Boardman, 1985;Haswell, 1973), Chinese and South American Indian jade carvings (Zucker, 1984), Victorian cameos (Clements and Clements, 1998), Russian and Italian inlay, and the objets d'art that have graced palaces throughout the world. Also influential was the Art Nouveau era-from the late 19th to the early 20th century-in which gem carvings and glass were included in pieces of fine jewelry (Misiorowski and Dirlam, 1986). At about the same time, Peter Carl Fabergé was carving animals and other figures from opaque materials such as agate, onyx, and obsidian for Russian nobility (Von Habsburg-Lothringen, 1979;Becker, 1985).…”