brillant(e)

Jewellery and/or Art

As a kind of backlash against the development of the jewellery industry, industrial mass-production and the mere imitation of style, "artistic jewellery" developed in the 20th century as a domain of its own. By abstaining from the handed-down set of forms, in connection with the use of new techniques and unconventional materials, a complex renewal of the jewellery craft took place. With the intention to extend the traditional concept of jewellery, superordinate themes such as the purpose and definition of jewellery, the wearability of pieces of jewellery as well as the relationship between jewellery and wearer were picked up and reflected upon.

Picturesque surfaces: An approach which can frequently be detected in "artistic jewellery" is to design flat objects such as brooches and pendants in such a way, that they appear as small-scale, abstract or figurative paintings.

Anton Frühauf, Hermann Jünger, Falko Marx, Waltraud Erlacher

Sculptural Objects: Alongside picturesque surfaces, in "artistic jewellery" numerous pieces of jewellery can be found which appear as sculptural, three-dimensional constructions and reflect a concept of jewellery associated with sculpture.

Friedrich Becker, Emmy van Leersum, Gijs Bakker

New Materials: Another approach to invalidate classical values in jewellery and to extend the traditional concept of jewellery, lies in the discarding of precious, constant materials and the use of unconventional, non-precious and perishable materials.

Naum Slutzky, Bernhard Schobinger, Susan Pitzsch

Jewellery on Jewellery: A number of jewellers from the domain of "artistic jewellery" have primarily contemplated jewellery as content. Their works go way beyond the "ornamental" purpose and show a rather conceptual handling of jewellery.

Otto Künzli, Gijs Bakker, Emmy van Leersum, Ted Noten, Ingrid Gossner, Yuka Oyama

Jewellery and/or Art | Art as Jewellery | Jewellery in Fine Art| Artists| Project Team