Legacy

A Parisian Tale
   Jewelry has served as the ultimate in personal adornment since ancient times, reflecting status and wealth as well as individual aesthetics. Changes in fashion and societal norms, the clash of wars, and economic ups and downs have all infused the vocabulary of jewelry designers. That’s certainly apparent in a new exhibition at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, which traces the history of French jewelry from the 17th century through the early 1950s.
   “Bijoux Parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris,” features approximately 70 pieces of jewelry and objets d’art, as well as design drawings, fashion plates and photographs, showcasing the styles that helped French makers set fashionable standards.

Telling the story
   “Each piece of jewelry shown is a unique work of art,” says Dana E. Cowen, Joslyn’s associate curator of European art. Those pieces reflect “the patron’s particular values and interests, as well as the changing wealth and social fabric of France at the time,” she explains.
   Asked to single out examples of historically influenced designs, she shares the backgrounds of several pieces, the origins of which range from the Napoleonic era to World War II.

Classical connection
   “When Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself emperor in 1804, he consciously linked his regime to cultures of the ancient past that recalled the heroic and civic virtues of Greece and Rome,” Cowen relates, pointing to a gold and enamel neoclassical necklace from around 1800 that features an enamel medallion with a portrait of Athena suspended from two swans. Napoleon’s fondness for cameos, she adds, created such high demand for this jewelry that “jewelers began replicating the small carved hardstones in enamel.”

Economic influence
   The French monarchy returned after the defeat of Napoleon I in 1815. However, the aristocracy’s diminished financial situation meant they needed to find more “economically prudent” ways to create jewelry that alluded to their former glory, Cowen explains. Instead of costly gems like diamonds, courtiers chose colored stones such as amethyst and tourmaline. Prompted by this demand, jewelers came up with stylish options.
   One such item on exhibit is an amethyst parure, or jewelry set, from between 1820 and 1830, which “uses a stretched and woven gold setting to provide a luxurious effect at a reasonable price,” she says.

Reinterpreting Renaissance
   Jewelers like Henri Husson, who ran several workshops in Paris, created pieces that artfully paid homage to classical and Renaissance themes — such as the Renaissance-style frame of gold florets, diamond garlands and emerald pendants adorning one Husson brooch from about 1800. “The frame surrounds an enameled panel featuring an antique procession of women playing instruments, and a cherub,” Cowen says.

A natural look
   In the 1900s, artists looked to nature for inspiration, according to the associate curator. The new style, appropriately named Art Nouveau (“new art”), did not copy objects directly; rather, “artists reinterpreted natural forms like plant life and insects in abstract ways,” she explains. “One of the masters of this style was René Lalique, whose designs played with line, color and transparency.”
   Lalique’s Wood Anemone pendant — circa 1900 — is in the shape of a flower, with diamonds on its upper leaves mimicking dewdrops struck by early morning sunlight.

Ingenious alternative
   During World War II, precious materials were scarce, so jewelry makers had to find more economical ways to use gold, says Cowen. To meet the challenge, they developed what became known as the “gas pipe” necklace, “due to its shape, which employed identical, interlocking links to form a hollow, yet flexible tube to which decorative pendants could be attached.”
   One example is a Boucheron necklace from between 1945 and 1950. After the war, Cowen recounts, the jeweler wrapped it with an elegant gold ribbon punctuated with diamonds.

A collective effort
   In the exhibit, works of well-known artists such as Cartier, Boucheron and Van Cleef & Arpels mingle with exemplary pieces by less-widely known names such as Lucien Falize, Eugène Fontenay and Georges Fouquet. It was their combined skills that helped forge new paths in the history of jewelry design.
   “The development of French jewelry design and creation,” Cowen sums up, is “a mix of tradition, craftsmanship, artistry, creativity and innovation.” That legacy will no doubt continue in future generations of designers.

Image (left to right): gold, diamond, pâte de verre and plique-â-jour enamel Wood Anemone pendant by René Lalique, c.1900; amethyst and gold parure, artist unknown, France, 1820-1830; horn, silver and enamel comb by René Lalique, c.1897-1898

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - August 2017. To subscribe click here.