Exhibitions Archive - Americas
Caribbean
The Body Adorned: Artistry and Legacy of the Ancient Americas
Feather textiles, gold pendants, and greenstone ear rods are among the most exquisite adornments crafted by artists working in the ancient Americas. Designed to be worn both in life and in death, these treasures functioned as status symbols, ritual paraphernalia, and sacred channels to a more sublime realm. Often small in scale and intricately crafted, the adornments featured in this exhibition were created in sophisticated workshops by highly skilled artists. These splendid works of art offer insight into the values, beliefs, and achievements of indigenous peoples.
This exhibition explores the artistic adornment of the ancient American cultures of Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, and Mexico, as well as the influence that metalwork, textiles, and ceramics had on future generations of artists. In addition to including work made between 400 and 1550 CE, the display includes works by 20th century American designer and jewellery maker William Spratling (1900-1967), who spent over three decades in Mexico and was inspired by Mesoamerican art and architecture. The exhibition celebrates the enduring power of these brilliant motifs, and brings together different eras in dialogue.
4/12/2021 - 27/02/2022
Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards Street, Springfield, MA 01103, USA
Arte del mar: Artistic Exchange in the Caribbean
Arte del mar ("art of/from the sea") explores the artistic exchange around the rim of the Caribbean Sea before the sixteenth century between the Taíno civilizations of the Antilles archipelago and their powerful peers on the continental mainland. Recent archaeological, ethnohistorical, and art-historical research has deepened our understanding of indigenous Caribbean concepts of ritual knowledge, ceremonial performance, and political power. Artists in the region—which includes the modern Antilles archipelago and countries such as Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras—sought to express the distinct force of their deities and ancestors, known to the Taínos as zemí (or cemí), which pervaded the environment and was crucial to the foundation of communities. Pendants and other objects worn and used by leaders in ceremonies were created from imported luxury materials and share a formal grammar that is inextricably linked with deeply rooted mythological narratives.
16/12/2019 - 27/06/2021
Gallery 359, The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, USA
Victorian Jewellery
This mini-exhibition showcases jewellery from the period 1840 to 1900, the era of Queen Victoria's reign. Examples of the precious stone cameos and intaglios that were popular during this period will also be on display.
1/04/2011 – 30/06/2011
The Barbados Museum, Barbados, Caribbean
Latin American
The Body Adorned: Artistry and Legacy of the Ancient Americas
Feather textiles, gold pendants, and greenstone ear rods are among the most exquisite adornments crafted by artists working in the ancient Americas. Designed to be worn both in life and in death, these treasures functioned as status symbols, ritual paraphernalia, and sacred channels to a more sublime realm. Often small in scale and intricately crafted, the adornments featured in this exhibition were created in sophisticated workshops by highly skilled artists. These splendid works of art offer insight into the values, beliefs, and achievements of indigenous peoples.
This exhibition explores the artistic adornment of the ancient American cultures of Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, and Mexico, as well as the influence that metalwork, textiles, and ceramics had on future generations of artists. In addition to including work made between 400 and 1550 CE, the display includes works by 20th century American designer and jewellery maker William Spratling (1900-1967), who spent over three decades in Mexico and was inspired by Mesoamerican art and architecture. The exhibition celebrates the enduring power of these brilliant motifs, and brings together different eras in dialogue.
4/12/2021 - 27/02/2022
Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards Street, Springfield, MA 01103, USA
Glitterati. Portraits & Jewelry from Colonial Latin America
During the Spanish Colonial period in Latin America (1521–1850), precious gold and silver were crafted into elegant jewelry then embellished with emeralds from Colombia, coral from Mexico, and pearls from Venezuela. Wanting to demonstrate their wealth and status, people were painted wearing their finest dress and elaborate jewellery. Women were adorned with tiaras, necklaces with pendants, and prominent earrings. Men proudly displayed hat ornaments, rings, watch fobs, and chatelaines (decorative belt hooks) with small tools similar to the modern Swiss Army knife. Priests wore gold crucifixes and rosaries while nuns had miniature paintings of the Virgin Mary and saints crafted into brooches, called nun’s badges. Inlaid and lacquered chests and boxes were used to store these luxury goods. The portraits, furniture, and jewellery that are exhibited in this exhibition, drawn from the DAM’s world-renowned Spanish Colonial collection, tell the fascinating story of people and luxury possessions in the New World.
7/12/2014 – 1/08/2017
Denver Art Museum, 100 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204, USA
Trésors du Costa Rica
The cultural identity of Costa Rica, a volcanic country wedged between two oceans and covered with tropical jungles, has always been determined by its geography as well as its rich fauna and flora. These influences have resulted in the emergence of small, autonomous communities that were never subjected to external domination, unlike Mesoamerican cultures farther north or to those of the Central Andes in the south. About 350 pieces will be exhibited in a free range in which the importance of the habitat will be discussed by enlargements of photographs, films, sound, and lighting for various applications. The art of pre-Columbian Costa Rica is famous for its stone statues of warriors, priests or hybrid creatures to its offering tables for sculptures and jewellery of green jade or blue-black obsidian, and of course also for the refinement of its gold items. They often depict animals: frogs, bats, snakes and various birds.
1/10/2014 - 30/01/2015
Musée du Cinquantenaire, Parc de Cinquantenaire 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Beneath the Surface: Life, Death, and Gold in Ancient Panama
For more than a thousand years, a cemetery on the banks of the Rio Grande Coclé in Panama lay undisturbed, escaping the attention of gold seekers and looters. The river flooded in 1927, scattering beads of gold along its banks. In 1940, a Penn Museum team led by archaeologist J. Alden Mason excavated at the cemetery, unearthing spectacular finds — large golden plaques and pendants with animal-human motifs, precious and semi-precious stone, ivory, and animal bone ornaments, and literally tons of detail-rich painted ceramics. It was extraordinary evidence of a sophisticated Precolumbian people, the Coclé, who lived, died, and painstakingly buried their dead long ago. This new exhibition invites visitors to dig deeper, exploring the history, archaeological evidence, and new research perspectives, in search of a greater understanding of the Coclé people who lived from about 700 to 900 CE.
7/02/2015 - 1/11/2015
Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Modern jewellery design from Brazil and Denmark
Ten eminent goldsmiths from Denmark join forces with ten Brazilian colleagues in this transnational exhibition of modern jewellery design. The exhibition not only showcases fascinating contrasts between Nordic simplicity and Latin lavishness but also a shared reference to the global issue of sustainability – a key issue in an industry that until recently was associated with overconsumption and exploitation of the Third World. The exhibition is clear testimony to the transformation of jewellery design in Brazil and Denmark. Modern jewellery design is no longer measured in carats but on the interaction between form and material and on the loyalty of the piece to the resources of our planet
24/08/2013 - 24/11/2013
Museet på Koldinghus, Markdannersgade 11, Postboks 91, 6000 Kolding, Denmark
Folk Art of the Andes
A major exhibition featuring over 850 works of art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This diverse group of Andean folk arts includes weaving, embroidery, woodcarving, ceramics, painting, and metalwork, reflecting the interweaving of indigenous craft traditions with European art forms and techniques. The exhibition provides a window into the rich spirit and culture shared by the peoples of this highland region of South America through works ranging from costumes, jewelry, utilitarian items, and toys to those used in religious practices and festivals. The exhibit will be accompanied by a richly illustrated 300 page catalog.
17/04/2011 - 9/09/2012
Museum of International Folk Art, Museum Hill, 706 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2087, USA
Think Again: New Latin American Jewelry
The Museum of Arts and Design presents the first comprehensive overview of contemporary art jewelry from Latin America to be seen in the United States. The exhibition was organized by Otro Diseño Foundation for Cultural Cooperation and Development, and curated by Valeria Vallarta Siemelink. Think Again showcases more than 80 works by over fifty Latin American jewelry artists/designers including Mirla Fernandes and Claudia Cucchi (Brazil); Valentina Rosenthal (Chile); Elisa Gulminelli and Francisca Kweitel (Argentina);Jorge Manilla and Akides Fortes Cape Verdian (Mexico); and, Miguel Luciano (Puerto Rico). The contemporary works will be shown in context with a group of historical works primarily from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Cuba, to further enhance the visitor's understanding and viewing experience.
12/10/2010 - 27/02/2011
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, USA
26/05/2011 – 16/10/2011
Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA 98004, USA
Perles de liberté - Bijoux afro-brésiliens
Pearls of freedom - Afro-Brazilian jewellery
Among the twenty exhibitions of Europalia Brazil that trace the fascinating history of Brazilian art, Grand Hornu Images offers a unique perspective on Afro-Brazilian jewels, both historic and contemporary. Created and worn by slaves as a sign of recognition and empowerment, or inspired by the gods of the home, Afro-Brazilian jewellery combines symbolic and emotional symbolism with a strong and flamboyant aesthetic. All the jewellery shown is from public and private collections.
23/10/2011 - 26/02/2012
Grand-Hornu Images, B-7301 Hornu, Belgiun
Joia Contemporânea Brasileira _ Reflexão_Anéis
Brazilian Contemporary Jewellery _ Reflexion - Rings
This exhibition seeks to explore new looks, or better, new reflections taking as a starting point rings; jewels which are sometimes small, but responsible for reflecting huge dialogues. It presents rings produced by 30 artists specialising in the jewellery art.
15/05/2022 – 12/06/2022
Museu A Casa do Objeto Brasileiro, Avenida Pedroso de Morais, 1216, Pinheiros, São Paulo, Brazil
Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up
This exhibition presents an extraordinary collection of personal artefacts and clothing, as well as numerous photos and paintings, belonging to the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, including a selection of her personal jewellery by contemporary makers as well as traditional Mexican work. Locked away for 50 years after her death, this collection has never before been exhibited outside Mexico.
16/06/2018 - 18/11/2018
Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL, UK
Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda
In the years following the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), Mexican jewelry and other silver objects were crafted with an entirely innovative approach, informed by modernism and the creation of a new Mexican national identity. Antonio Pineda was a member of the Taxco School and is recognized as a world-class designer. Pineda’s jewelry is especially known for its elegant acknowledgment of the human form. It is often said that a Pineda fits the body perfectly, that it feels right when it is worn. Nearly two hundred examples of Pineda’s acclaimed silver work will be displayed.
24/08/2008 - 15/03/2009
Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
4/06/2010 – 2/01/2011
Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Aztecs
At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Aztecs ruled much of Mesoamerica. As nomadic people, they settled on several small islands in Lake Texcoco, where they founded the city of Tenochtitlán, today's Mexico City, in 1325. In the 15th century, an empire within the American continent was only surpassed by the Incas in Peru. The Aztecs were among the most fully documented of all Indian civilizations in the 16th century. In addition to the world-famous Quetzal feather headdress (Penancho) from the World Museum Vienna, the exhibition shows more than 200 objects and loans from Mexican and European museums. It takes place on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the landing of the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés on the Mexican coast.
15/10/2020 - 22/06/2021
Weltmuseum Wien, Heldenplatz 1010 Vienna, Austria
Mexico: Teotihuacan, the Mysterious City of Pyramids
The exhibition presents some 450 artefacts from Mexico: colourful murals, precious clay vessels, stone sculptures, figures cut from obsidian, and wonderful jewellery. Also, visitors will be among the first to see some recently discovered, spectacular finds, including the magnificent sacrificial offerings from the Sun and Moon Pyramids and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent.
06/10/09 – 24/01/10
Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
21/02/2010 - 30/05/2010
Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas
This major international loan exhibition, featuring more than 300 masterpieces, traces the development of luxury arts in the Americas from about 1000 BC to the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century. Recent investigation into the historical, cultural, social, and political conditions under which such works were produced and circulated has led to new ways of thinking about materials, luxury, and the visual arts from a global perspective.
16/09/2017 - 28/01/2018
J. Paul Getty Museum, The Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA
26/02/2018 - 28/05/2018
The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, USA
Machu Picchu et les trésors du Pérou
This exceptional exhibition retraces the 3000 years of Pre-Columbian civilizations, up to the mystery of Machu Picchu.
Masterpieces and symbolic objects, more than 190 original pieces from one of the greatest Peruvian museums, are reunited for the first time, some of which have never previously leftf Peru, will be on display: a headdress, a funerary mask, an imperial trousseau, a silver crown, and one of the most impressive gold collections ever exhibited.
In a surprising and immersive setting, immerse yourself in the enchanting environment of the Incas, heirs to the ecological, technological and artistic achievements of the civilisations of ancient Peru. Beyond the traditional exhibition of remarkable archaeological objects, the exhibition is a true immersive experience in the universe of the societies of ancient Peru that shaped the great history of the Andean civilization for more than 3000 years. In line with the desire to create emotions and meaning, the exhibition proposes innovative solutions to better display and communicate the tangible and intangible heritage that Peru and its museums preserve.
Augmented reality, which integrates visual and audible digital content (texts, images, videos, 3D animated objects), makes it possible to combine virtual and real objects; while reality literally allows the visitor to enter a virtual monumental environment. You can't travel to Peru, Machu Picchu comes to you! The Experience offers the very first Machu Picchu expedition in virtual reality.
An Escape Game, included with the exhibition, will also be offered, and a catalogue of the exhibition is for sale in the bookshop.
16/04/2022 - 4/09/2022
Galerie des expositions temporaires, Palais de Chaillot, Cité de l'architecture & du patrimoine, 1, place du Trocadéro, 75016 Paris, France
Inka - Könige der Anden
Inca - Kings of the Andes
The Inca Empire of the 15th and 16th century was the largest indigenous empire ever created on American soil. With Cusco and Machu Picchu in Peru as the centres of power, it stretched almost 5000 km along the Andes of Columbia to Chile. This exhibition, the first to be fully devoted to this magnificent culture, follows the evolution of the legendary pre-Hispanic culture, from its origins in the mid 11th century, right up to colonial times. The exhibition focuses on the imperial phase. Inca Viracocha, Pachacutec Yupanqui and Topa Inca Yupanqui were not only responsible for creating the Inca Empire, but also for building Cusco, Machu Picchu and other world-famous sites. Colourful and richly patterned textiles from Inca and colonial times, valuable and extremely rare stone offering bowls, gold jewellery, knotted braids and reconstructions of archaeological sites give visitors a varied impression. They explain the background, religion, architecture, economy and balance of power of the Inca Empire. Paintings, wooden cups and textiles from the colonial times are testament to subsequent mixed culture, which was dominated by strong European influences. This is the first time that the majority of the pieces have been exhibited in Europe.
12/10/2013 – 16/03/2014
Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Hegelplatz 1, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany
11/04/2014 – 23/11/2014
Ausstellungszentrum Lokschuppen, Rathausstraße 24, 83022 Rosenheim, Germany
Inca - origins and mysteries of the golden civilisation
The entire civilization will be reviewed through the 270 exhibited works: objects in gold, silver, bronze and copper, but also pottery, stone sculptures and wood, from the major Peruvian museums.
4/12/2009 – 27/06/2010
Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland
River of Gold: Precolumbian Treasures from Sitio Conte
This exhibit presents more than 120 exquisitely crafted pieces of Precolumbian goldwork from the University of Pennsylvania Museum's 1940 excavations at the ancient cemetery site of Sitio Conte in what is now central Panama. The exhibition includes large embossed plaques, cast pendants and nose ornaments, gold-sheathed ear rods, and necklaces of intricate beads-as well as polychrome ceramics, and objects made of precious and semi-precious stones, whale-tooth ivory, and bone.
11/10/2009 - 28/03/2010
Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, MI, USA
North American
Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy in New France
Shell beads from North America known as wampum are more than just a raw material transformed into beads. Polished, strung and woven, exchanged and gifted, coveted and imitated, they are a valuable witness to a chapter in the history of former colonised territory New France in the 17th and 18th centuries. Through a display of some 50 pieces, the exhibition examines this raw material and its importance in the creation of objects as well as the role it played in politics and diplomacy involving Native Americans, the French and the English at the time of New France in the 17th and 18th centuries.
8/02/2022 - 15/05/2022
Musée du quai Branly, 37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris, France
Canadian
Avant-garde Montrealers. Jewellery, Glass and Ceramics as Envisioned by Gallerists Jocelyne Gobeil, Elena Lee and Barbara Silverberg
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is dedicating its Design Lab to three Quebec gallery owners who used their expertise to ensure glass, ceramics and jewellery become recognized as fully fledged artistic disciplines. Bringing together 60 of these works – which the Museum now proudly boasts in its collection – Avant-garde Montrealers attests to the vast creative potential of jewellery, glass and ceramics and pays tribute to these audacious women and their resolutely contemporary vision of these practices.
2/04/2019 – 22/03/2020
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2189 Bishop Street, Montreal, Quebec H3G 2E8, Canada
Charles Edenshaw
Charles Edenshaw (1839-1920) was recognized in his time as an exceptional Haida artist and remains an iconic figure in Northwest Coast art. His work serves as a testament to a tremendous individual spirit and a singular talent. With over 200 pieces assembled from public and private collections from around the world, this first major survey of Edenshaw's work features the full range of objects that he produced, including the carved silver bracelets that epitomise this art. His development of overlapping and interwoven forms was unprecedented and brought new vitality to the subject. The exhibition concludes with a consideration of the artist's tremendous Legacy among artists past and present. Featuring copies of Edenshaw's designs as well as works by his contemporaries for comparison, this section reveals how successive generations of scholars have developed and contributed to our knowledge of Edenshaw's work. The exhibition is complemented by a fully-illustrated book co-published by the Vancouver Art Gallery and Black Dog Publishing (London).
26/10/2013 – 2/02/2014
Vancouver Art Gallery,750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7, Canada
Weiter als der Horizont - Kunst der Welt: Der Mondflüsterer
Beyond the Horizon - Art of the World: the Moon Whisperer. Native American art prints and silver jewellery of the Canadian Pacific coast from the Larink collection
In 1979, Renate and Walter Larink "discovered" for the first time the art of the indigenous peoples of Canada's northwest coast and began to collect silkscreen prints, jewellery and wood carvings. Through their collector's passion they quickly developed friendships with artists from British Columbia, and Walter Larink became one of the best connoisseurs of contemporary art of the First Nations of Canada's Pacific coast. Since 2003, Renate and Walter Larink have generaously presented pieces from their collection to the State Museum of Ethnology in Munich. We are pleased that we can now display a selection of screen prints and silver jewellery from this collection.
22/09/2011 – 31/01/2012
Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, D-80538 München, Germany
Profit and Ambition: The Canadian Fur Trade, 1779–1821
This exhibition draws a riveting portrait of the fur trade’s cutthroat business practices and its physically demanding way of life. It also traces the fierce rivalry between the North West Company, and the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). It features about 90 artifacts and works of art. Among the many notable items are trade goods — such as muskets, metal tools, jewellery and ornaments — and rare articles of Aboriginal and European clothing. Many of the objects date from the late 1700s. Most of the artifacts are drawn from the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s own collections, but some come from a variety of other institutions such as the Canadian War Museum, Library and Archives Canada, the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Parks Canada, and the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City.
17/05/2011 – 2/10/2011
Château Ramezay – Historic Site and Museum of Montréal, Canada
USA
Creative Alloys: The Boston Metals Scene
Artists are often part of creative ecosystems, working within a network of allies that inspire, educate, and support their careers. Creative Alloys: The Boston Metals Scene spotlights the vibrant metalsmithing and jewellery community that has ignited Boston over the past five decades. Organized in conjunction with the exhibition 'Daniel Jocz: Permission Granted' in Fuller Craft Museum’s M. Tarlow Gallery, Creative Alloys will spotlight the vigor and imagination of the unique artistic scene and the creative context from which sculptor Jocz emerged.
28/01/2023 – 4/06/2023
Fuller Craft Museum, 455 Oak Street, Brockton, MA 02301, USA
Family Ties
Portraits bind families together creating visual mementoes. Sometimes they also connect families through the artistic practice itself. This installation features both types of portrait miniatures!
In eighteenth-century Europe and America, it was a portrait painting age. Formerly associated with royalty and heads of state, by the mid-1700s, everyone wanted their portrait painted. Scores of artists were there to answer the call, painting mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, and cousins. These keepsakes that once adorned the family walls, or as in the case with portrait miniatures, were often worn as jewellery, or close to the body, served as visual reminders connecting family history. This installation features several portraits of siblings, such as Richard Grosvenor and his sister, Maria Deborah Grosvenor, painted in 1770 by Samuel Cotes (1733-1818), himself part of an artistic family. Over time, many family miniatures were dispersed among relatives or sold off thus breaking family ties. Although no longer owned by the sitters’ descendants, these portraits have miraculously remained together over 250 years later.
Family portraiture takes on a different meaning on the other side of the case, as the profession of artist often extended to multiple individuals within the same household. With no professional school to learn the art of miniature painting, the tradition and knowledge of this practice frequently passed from one generation to the next. One spectacular example of this includes America’s first well-known family of artists, the Peales. This installation features examples by Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), as well as portraits by his brother James Peale, Sr. (1749-1831), and niece Anna Claypoole Peale (1791–1878), as well as a selection of their near 18th-century/early 19th-century English and European contemporaries.
25/03/2022 – 27/03/2023
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO 64111, USA
American Jewelry: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection
Collector and author Susan Grant Lewin recently donated over two dozen pieces of jewellery by artists and makers working in the United States. These are featured in the installation 'American Jewelry: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection' at the Yale University Art Gallery, on view through fall 2022. The collection underscores Lewin’s commitment to promoting and preserving important advancements in the studio-jewellery field and offers a glimpse into the relationships she forged with many of the jewellers.
April 2022 – Autumn 2022
Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street (at York Street) New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Boston Made. Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork
Bold colour combinations of gemstones and enamels, foliate motifs, and designs inspired by historical styles, often with a certain glitziness—that is what defined the “Boston look” of Arts and Crafts jewellery and metalwork. Beginning as a reaction against the dehumanising effects of industrialisation, the international Arts and Crafts movement spurred a renaissance of handcraftsmanship in Boston at the turn of the 20th century. As part of this movement, the city quickly emerged as one of the most active and influential artistic jewellery-making and metalworking communities in the nation. “Boston Made: Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork” presents the story of this community over a 30-year period, from its inception at the beginning of the 20th century to the stock market crash of 1929 that signaled its decline. “Boston Made” is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the Arts and Crafts metalsmiths in Boston and highlights the contributions of newly empowered women artists like Josephine Hartwell Shaw and Elizabeth Copeland, among others. While adhering to the ideas and ideals of the international Arts and Crafts movement, Boston artists developed a signature aesthetic that set their work apart from the broader movement. “Boston Made” brings together more than 75 works—including jewellery, tableware, decorative accessories, and design drawings—that illuminate the passions and philosophies of this interwoven community of jewellery-makers and metalsmiths. Among the notable works on view are a scroll brooch (about 1920) by Frank Gardner Hale, studded with gemstones and embellished with gold scrolls; a jewelled casket (about 1929) by Edward Everett Oakes; and a necklace (1910–18) by Josephine Hartwell Shaw. Arts and Crafts was a philosophy as much as an artistic movement, looking to the pre-industrial past for design and lifestyle guidance. Design was more important than opulence, and materials were selected for their aesthetic properties, rather than for their intrinsic value. These ideas melded well with Boston’s progressive intellectual community of the early 20th century. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated book from MFA Publications (November 2018).
17/11/2018 – 12/03/2020
Museum of Fine Arts, Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Jewelry for America
Spanning three hundred years, Jewelry for America explores the evolution of jewellery in this country, from the early eighteenth century to the present day. Its five chronological sections reveal changes in styles, materials, and techniques, all woven into a sociohistorical narrative. Some one hundred examples from The Met collection — including recently acquired and rarely exhibited objects — are displayed.
10/06/2019 - 9/05/2021
The Met Fifth Avenue
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, NY 10028, USA
Collecting Jewelry: Curator H.P. Mera’s Trip to Navajo Country in 1932
The exhibit consists of jewellery collected by Dr. Harry P. Mera during a trip to the Navajo Nation in the fall of 1932. Funded primarily by John D. Rockefeller, Mera visited 80 trading posts and covered more than 2,500 miles to gather a collection of jewellery made in the prior 40 years.
The pieces, outstanding in their craftsmanship and artistry, were handmade from silver coins or ingots of silver before the general availability of advanced mechanical tools and commercial commodities. These works shed light on the importance of silver to the Navajo people of the time, and form the inspiration of the jewellery artists that have followed.
1/07/2021 - 2/01/2022
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 710 Camino Lejo off Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505, USA
Small Wonders
This exhibition provides the opportunity to see a range of intricately made small-format works including jewellery (rings, brooches, earrings and buckles) and speciality items such as silver seed pots, fetishes or stone carvings, and silver items in miniature. Each is shaped in silver, gold or from a variety of gemstones, and all are from the Heard Museum’s permanent collection.
Some examples of the little treasures in the exhibition are the miniatures fabricated in silver. Some of the miniatures made by jeweller Shawn Bluejacket (Shawnee) include a treehouse with a removable roof that is fully equipped with a slide and a miniature table with two chairs. The table is also hinged and transforms into a small container. When opened, it reveals a bundle of carrots that Bluejacket painted on the interior. Other miniatures include a silver yo-yo by Daniel Sunshine Reeves (Navajo), a silver teapot with coral inlay by Darrell Jumbo (Navajo), and silver spoons by Kenneth Begay (Navajo) and Awa Tsireh (San Ildefonso Pueblo).
For those who enjoy jewellery, there is an assortment of brooches, many in animal or insect shapes, as well as complex figurative works by Denise Wallace (Aleut) and more traditional shapes in silver with inset turquoise.
2/06/2021 - 2/01/2022
Heard Museum, 2301 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
American Jewelry from New Mexico
Jewellery making in New Mexico has always been about innovation, with artists celebrating new materials and techniques which, in the hands of master craftspeople, become instant traditions. For millennia, startlingly new materials including abalone shell, turquoise, silver, mother of pearl, gold, glass, Bakelite, Lucite, apatite, tungsten, bottle caps, and diamonds have been introduced, adopted, and elevated to idiosyncratic modes of exemplary expression. This major travelling exhibition with accompanying book published by the Museum of New Mexico Press, surveys, through approximately 300 spectacular objects, all aspects of jewellery adornment from prehistory to the present. Rather than focus on a single culture group, individual artist, time period, or medium as have most jewellery exhibitions and publications, American Jewelry from New Mexico tells the stories of diverse heritages simultaneously, as artists live, in concert, trade, and adaptation with their neighbours.
2/06/2018 – 14/10/2018
Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain Rd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, USA
Mementos: Jewelry of Life and Love from Historic New England
Mementos features more than one hundred pieces of jewelry along with complementary textiles, portraits, and photographs from Historic New England’s extensive collections. Together, these objects unlock the lid of New England’s jewelry box. They tell tales of family history, industrial development, and artistic expression unique to the region.
17/05/2017 - 7/01/2018
The Eustis Estate Museum and Study Center, 1424 Canton Avenue, Milton, Mass. 02186, USA
Gioielli Fantasia. Sogni Americani
The historic home of Asti, a treasure trove of fine collections of carvings, ancient textiles and ceramics, offers the ideal setting for an exhibition dedicated to a particular field of the decorative arts, over 500 specimens of Fantasy Jewels from the personal collection of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. The exhibition introduces the visitor to the discovery of costume jewellery production, a socio-cultural phenomenon born in the US in the aftermath of the great crisis of 1929-1939 which led to a drastic reduction in the luxury goods market. Experimentation with non-precious materials became the only way of survival for jewellers, but also a stimulus for the imagination and for the development of new techniques. These beautiful and inexpensive ornaments that Hollywood studios did not hesitate to adopt, made them protagonists for the golden age of American cinema. This is large and showy jewellery, visible during filming and able to save money previously spent on the rental of real jewels. Despite the use of stones and alloys of low cost, the precise finishing and surprising format is a clear sign of the extraordinary creative abilities of designers of the time and their greater freedom of experimentation with new materials. Thes were the jewels worn on stage costumes by movie stars such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis and Vivien Leigh. The legendary Joseff created jewellery for hundreds of highly successful films, including "Gone with the Wind". Also first ladies, such as Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, did not miss the opportunity of wearing them on public occasions. Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo developed an interest in these fantasy jewels "because they represent a cultural heritage that brings us back to difficult times and great social changes ... It is important to the meaning and the content that they transmit, their attachment to the precise historical moment in which they were made. In Costume Jewelry I seek creativity, imagination and appreciate the use of innovative materials, such as vulcanized rubber, rhinestones, celluloid, bakelite, acrylic glass and acrylic, able to anticipate many future trends. These jewels are "poor but beautiful", accessible and affordable for all."
16/04/2016 – 2/10/2016
Palazzo Mazzetti, Corso Vittorio Alfieri, 357, 14100 Asti AT, Italy
Variations on a Theme
“Variations on a Theme” is a travelling exhibition of nearly 200 pieces created by 40 AJDC designers as part of an annual project started in 1996. Each year the one- or two-word themes – such as water, puzzle, tear and flight – offer designers the opportunity to interpret meaning from their individual perspective. The result is an array of designs with a common thread, each distinctly expressive of its designer, that elevates American jewelry designs as works of art sought by collectors and museums.
29/07/2015 – June 2016
Gemological Institute of America Inc, 5345 Armada Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008, USA
Thomas Gentille. Jewelry Art
Thomas Gentille – born in 1936 in Mansfield, Ohio and now working in New York – is one of the leading jewellery artists, not only of the USA but the world. To mark his 80th birthday, Die Neue Sammlung is devoting a large exhibition to him, encompassing for the first time his entire oeuvre and introducing its different aspects. It is also the first time that the museum has devoted a monographic exhibition to the work of an American jewellery artist.
27/02/2016 - 20/05/2016
Pinakothek der Moderne, Barer Straße 40 | 80333 München, Germany
Haystack Components: Metals and Jewelry
This exhibition is made up of people who have become connected to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts as teachers, teaching assistants, students, staff, or board members. What ties the group together is a love of the place and the transformation Haystack can engender. The work is as varied as Haystack’s programming, spanning meticulously hand-crafted work to CAD-designed innovative interpretations and even spectacles (glasses). The work also speaks to the incredible variety of materials that fall under the broad heading of “metals and jewelry”: precious and nonprecious metals, gems, wood, plastic, glass, fiber, and concrete. It’s about stretching boundaries, exchanging ideas, and preserving traditions. Every summer new classes are offered, new ideas shared, and connections made. These are the components that make up a whole, albeit an intangible whole that exists all around the country, if not the world.
16/05/2015 – 1/11/2015
Fuller Craft Museum, 455 Oak Street, Brockton, MA 02301, USA
Divine. Splendori di scena. Gioielli Fantasia dalla Collezione di Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Divine. Fantasy jewellery from the Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo collection
This exhibition, curated by Rosangela Cochrane, displays about 350 pieces of jewellery made in the US between the 1930s and the 1970s from the Fantasy Collection of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, accompanied by some examples made more recently. It will contain huge necklaces, colourful earrings, extravagant brooches, eccentric bracelets: pieces designed and developed by leading designers such as Trifari, Marcel Boucher, Coro, De Rosa, Eisenberg, Miriam Haskell, Eugene Joseff, Kenneth J. Lane, Nib, up to Wendy Gell and Iradj Moini.
30/08/2014 - 11/01/2015
Gallery Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro, Cannaregio n. 3932 (“Strada Nuova”) – Venezia, Italy
Symmetry in Stone: The Jewelry of Richard I. Chavez
Richard Chavez (San Felipe Pueblo, b. 1949) studied architecture at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and worked as an architectural draftsman at the firm of Harvey S. Houshour. One of the projects he assisted with was the design of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Chavez taught himself jewellery making through diligence and trial and error. Initially, he cut and shaped shells into heishi, but he stopped due to the influx of Asian shell beads. He entered his first competition, the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Arts and Crafts Show, in 1976. Winning the grand prize for a white mother-of-pearl necklace, ring and bracelet set sparked Chavez’s jewellery-making career. Now, some 40 years since he first tried to solder metals, Chavez is one of the Southwest’s leading jewellers, whose works are recognized for complex inlay, architectural sensibilities and striking colour patterning.
Ends 5/08/2018
Heard Museum, 2301 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
Navajo and Pueblo Jewelry: Silver, Turquoise, Coral, and Shell
Turquoise has been known for centuries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and throughout the ancient world. In the Western Hemisphere, the Aztecs utilized quantities of it, and, in the American Southwest, Indigenous peoples have worked with turquoise for more than a millennium. During the last quarter of the 19th century, Diné (Navajo) and Pueblo artists began creating jewellery combining turquoise stones with silver settings — work that is now synonymous with Southwestern artistic expression. Maryhill’s 2022 exhibition of silver and turquoise jewellery features late 20th-century examples drawn from private collections.
15/03/2022 – 15/11/2022
Maryhill Museum of Art, 35 Maryhill Museum Drive, Goldendale, WA 98620, USA
Southwest Silverwork, 1850-1940
Exploring rarely seen works from the Heard Museum’s collection, this exhibition documents nearly a century of the evolution of Native silverwork from its earliest years through the decades prior to World War II. A number of unique pieces of Navajo and Pueblo jewellery and other silver items from the museum are on view, tracing stylistic and technical developmental advances and the effect those changes had on silverwork produced in the Southwest.
To stay current with ongoing studies, the exhibit also re-examines and update some of the previously published writings on the subject with the expectation that the exhibit will help answer questions on how to accurately date Southwestern jewellery and other silver items as well as where pieces fit in a chronological history of the craft.
19/02/2022 – 31/10/2022
Heard Museum, 2301 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
Turquoise, Water, Sky: The Stone and Its Meaning
The exhibition highlights the Museum’s extensive collection of Southwestern turquoise jewellery and presents all aspects of the stone, from geology, mining and history, to questions of authenticity and value. People in the Southwest have used turquoise for jewellery and ceremonial purposes and traded valuable stones both within and outside the region for over a thousand years. The exhibition presents hundreds of necklaces, bracelets, belts, rings, earrings, silver boxes and other objects illustrating how the stone was used and its deep significance to the people of the region.
13/04/2014 - 2/05/2016
Hillwood Museum and Gardens, 710 Camino Lejo off Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Glittering World: Navajo Jewelry of the Yazzie Family
Jewelry making has long been an important part of the lives of Southwest Native peoples. During the last 50 years, Native jewelers in the Southwest—Navajos in particular—have created a contemporary aesthetic that draws on traditional materials and reflects the persistence of cultural values such as beauty, centering, and balance. Glittering World presents the story of Navajo jewelry through the lens of the gifted Yazzie family of Gallup, New Mexico—one of the most celebrated jewelry making families of our time. The silver, gold, and stone inlay work of Lee Yazzie and his younger brother, Raymond, has won every major award in the field. Their sister Mary Marie makes outstanding jewelry that combines fine bead- and stonework; silver beads are handmade by other sisters. Glittering World—featuring almost 300 examples of contemporary jewelry made by several members of the Yazzie family—shows how the family’s art flows from their Southwest environs and strong connection to their Navajo culture. With historic pieces from the museum’s collections, the exhibition places Navajo jewelry making within its historical context of art and commerce, illustrates its development as a form of cultural expression, and explores the meanings behind its symbolism.
12/11/2014 - 11/01/2016
The National Museum of the American Indian, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, One Bowling Green, New York, NY 10004, USA
Fred Harvey and the Making of the American West
Historians credit Harvey with essentially inventing Southwestern tourism through his “Indian Detours” business carrying tourists to what had once been thought of as “flyover country.” He jump-started the commercialization of Native American arts by selling their arts and crafts in his hotels. The exhibition showcases more than 300 objects related to the visionary who built hotels along the Santa Fe Railroad routes, including distinctive Harvey/Native American jewellery such as pins, bracelets, buckles and rings.
1/08/2014 – 31/01/2015
Millicent Rogers Museum, 1504 Millicent Rogers Road, Taos, NM 87571, USA
Native American Weavings and Jewelry, From the Kennedy Museum of Art, Athens
Art and craftsmanship, spirituality and dynamic design, all come together in this remarkable exhibition of more than forty Navaho weavings and more than sixty pieces of Hopi, Navaho, Pueblo, and Zuni jewelry, ranging in age from the mid-1800s to the 1990s.
25/05/2012 – 26/08/2012
The Art Museum, at the University of Kentucky, Singletary Center for the Arts, 405 Rose St. at Euclid Ave, Lexington, KY 40506-0241, USA
Gold in America: Artistry, Memory, Power
For millennia, gold’s warm glow, resistance to corrosion, and rarity have made it a preferred material for objects meant to convey prestige, authority, or devotion. Drawing on the Yale University Art Gallery’s extraordinary holdings of American gold and augmented by paintings, photographs, and other works of art, 'Gold in America: Artistry, Memory, Power' is the first exhibition since 1963 to survey the role of gold in American art and culture. The exhibition considers a wide range of objects spanning more than 400 years, such as early colonial betrothal and mourning rings; a sumptuous Gilded Age coffee service by luxury retailer Tiffany and Company; rare coins made from ore mined during the Gold Rush; a pair of elaborate shoe buckles from the late 18th century that speaks to the wealth derived from the slave trade in the Caribbean; and works by contemporary artists who explore the medium’s historical associations as well as the environmental and human costs of its extraction from the earth. With over 70 examples of gold and related material, 'Gold in America' demonstrates our nation’s longtime fascination with this gleaming metal.
25/02/2022 – 10/07/2022
Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street (at York Street) New Haven, Connecticut, USA
The Vintage Woman: A Century of Costume Jewelry in America 1910-2010
Costume jewelry in America (1910-2010) is a fascinating story that came to life in a turbulent century darkened by two world wars and the Great Depression—indeed, times remarkably relevant to today. Master jewelers fled from Europe with little more than their tools and talent. With glass in lieu of gemstones, and pot metal substituting for gold, they created magnificently crafted jewelry so matchless in design that fine jewelry pales in comparison. At one time, costume jewelry was the fifth-largest industry in America and single-handedly made Providence, Rhode Island the costume jewelry manufacturing capital of the world. Featured in the exhibition are masterpieces by legendary designers Elsa Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel, Hattie Carnegie and Henry à la Pensée—Europeans who sought refuge, as well as fame and fortune, in America. Joseff of Hollywood, “the designer of the stars,” whose faux jewels adorned the Garbo in Camille, Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind and numerous other stars in other motion pictures, is another great name; Marcel Boucher and his wife, Sandra, designed for Cartier and Tiffany’s. And the renowned illustrator McClelland Barclay designed costume jewelry for two years before giving his life in the service of his country in World War II. There are the great houses of costume jewelry—Trifari, Coro, Miriam Haskell, Hobe and Ciner. And let us not forget the King of Faux Jewelry, Kenneth Jay Lane, who has been designing for over 60 years.
7/12/2010 - Spring 2011
Forbes Jewelry Gallery, New York, USA
Jesse Monongye: Opal Bears and Lapis Skies
This exhibition celebrates the 30-year career of the leading Navajo jeweler, Jesse Monongye. Best known for his inlaid bears, Jesse Monongye’s work also captures the celestial night skies and other imagery from his youth. After his earliest success as a jeweler, Monongye pursued avenues to expand his skills. As newer tools, including diamond-tipped cutting and grinding surfaces and ever more precise power tools became available, Monongye quickly added them to his workshop. Newer generations of power tools that were not available to earlier generations of jewelers have enabled Monongye to realize his artistic vision in ever more innovative ways. His inlay work has become legend, as has his ability to cut the most difficult precious stones, including opals, and many of these pieces will be on display. In addition, pieces by Monongye’s mentors, his father Preston Monongye and Hopi jeweler Charles Loloma, will be on display, showing the influence these two earlier acclaimed artists exerted on Monongye.
4/12/2010 - 26/06/2011
Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Jewelers of the Hudson Valley
The beauty of New York State’s Hudson Valley region has for hundreds of years inspired many artists who have chosen to work and live there. Living within the immediate vicinity of the New Paltz area are a number of prominent studio jewelry artists. This exhibition will feature the work of seven of these artists: Jennifer Trask, Tom Herman, Pat Flynn, Jamie Bennett, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Arthur Hash and Sergey Jivetin. In addition to work by these artists there will be pieces from the collection of the Samuel Dorsky Museum, State University of New York/New Paltz on display and selected works by students and graduates of the prestigious metals’ program at SUNY/New Paltz.
9/04/2011 - 25/06/2011
Forbes Jewelry Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Notorious and Notable: 20th Century Women of Style
Co-presented with the National Jewelry Institute, Notorious and Notable: 20th Century Women of Style highlights 80 prominent New York women who used their style, talent, or wealth to capture the attention of society and the media. The exhibition features a runway of original attire—much of it created by the most important designers of their times—and an impressive selection of jewelry crafted from the dawn of the 20th century to its close. The exhibition features such celebrated New York women as Mrs. Cornelius Whitney Vanderbilt, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Babe Paley, and Barbara Walters, as well as women from the arts world, including Isadora Duncan, Marian Anderson, Lena Horne, and Lauren Bacall. The exhibition offers an opportunity to encounter many of New York’s leading ladies past and present through their fashion and jewelry.
14/09/2010 - 3/01/2011
Museum of the City of New York, NY, USA
Mignon Faget: A Life in Art and Design
A native New Orleans artist, Mignon Faget has a national reputation in jewelry design. She began her career in 1967 by designing ladies’ apparel. In 1970 Faget’s creative impulses shifted from textiles to jewelry making, a career in which she has enjoyed immeasurable success for four decades. Through the years Faget has introduced over thirty major jewelry collections, each based on a particular theme. Architecture and nature are consistent sources of inspiration, persistently providing Faget with the initial creative spark that lies behind her translation of imagery into art. Faget has executed numerous special commissions for social, educational, and philanthropic organizations. This exhibition celebrates Faget’s career with more than 500 objects on display, including jewelry, clothing, drawings, photographs, linocuts, and glassware.
22/09/2010 - 2/01/2011
The Historic New Orleans Collection, LA, USA
Pittsburgh Adorned: Classic to Contemporary
Orr's Jewelers, presenting sponsor
More than 60 exquisite pieces from private local collections and Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History celebrate the many passions—including love, status, and even political beliefs—that jewelry evokes. The exhibition explores design trends of the past 200 years and features works by Alexander Calder, Barry Kieselstein-Cord, and David Webb, as well as contemporary local designers ROY and Ronald McNeish.
12/06/2010 - 17/10/2010
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Preciousness Preserved: Jewelry from the Charleston Museum's Collections from Antiquity to Today
Donated by generations of Charlestonians, these pieces span the globe and date from 500 B.C. to the mid-20th century. Jewelry collections ranging from men's accessories to mourning and hairwork pieces will be exhibited. Visitors can also view natural jewelry incorporating jet, corals, pearls, and lava rocks. And, finally, a display of gemstone jewelry will feature amethysts, garnets, diamonds, and pastes (faceted highcontent leaded glass that closely imitated diamonds).
6/11/2009 – 6/09/2010
The Charleston Museum, Charleston, USA
American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity
This exhibition is the first Costume Institute exhibition drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. It will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition will reveal how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls," "Bohemians," and "Screen Sirens," among others, helped lay the foundation for today's American woman. Each of the fashion styles also has a lovely piece of vintage jewelry from the appropriate era.
5/05/2010 - 15/08/2010
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
Jewels of the stars - Masterpieces of American jewellery
This exhibition will show more than 200 pieces of jewellery from the National Jewelry Institute in New York dating from the late eighteenth to the late twentieth century, created for a prestigious American clientele by leading brands such as Tiffany or Van Cleef. With the idea that the superstars of Hollywood and figures of high society such as Grace Kelly, Joan Crawford, Jackie Kennedy have their legends associated with these ornaments, one wonders what will shine more, the jewellery or our eyes?
25/01/2010 – 7/05/2010
Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France
Bijoux americani d’epoca
Magnificent American jewels. This exhibition shows over 800 pieces of jewellery made between 1930 and 1980 in the United States of America (Providence, Rhode Island), a period of great imagination in which our compatriot goldsmiths were dedicated to the creation of costume jewellery rather than real jewels, which became famous thanks mainly to the movies. Many of these, in fact, have been worn by stars like Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn. The jewels were made in various materials, from alloys of gold or base metals to plastic, and were a curious and valid alternative to expensive jewellery, in a period, that of the Great Depression, around 1929, in which imagination and inventiveness at low cost were certainly welcome.
29/07/2009 – 01/11/2009
Il Museo del Presepe - Pinacoteca Civica di Imperia, Liguria, Italy