Current Jewellery Exhibitions
This list of current and forthcoming jewellery exhibitions is provided as a service to our members. We have no means of checking the accuracy of the information, and cannot take responsibility for any mistakes. Please check in advance before visiting an exhibition to avoid disappointment.
Please tell us here if there are any other jewellery exhibitions which we should add to this list, or if anything needs correcting. You can see lists of past exhibitions here.
UK
Cirencester
Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine
newbreweryarts.org.uk
21/06/2021 - 10/09/2021
New Brewery Arts
Brewery Court, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1JH
Tuesday-Saturday, 9.30am - 5pm. closed for lunch 1.45-2.15pm daily
Admission free
Edinburgh
The Galloway Hoard: Viking-age Treasure
Museum reopens 26 April
nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-eventsThe Galloway Hoard brings together the richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. It is of international significance and will transform our understanding of this period of Scottish history. Buried at the beginning of the tenth century, the Hoard comprises in excess of 100 gold, silver and other items, some of which are unique. This exhibition will display the key elements of the hoard, place it in a wider historical context and showcase the conservation and research work which is being undertaken to understand the hoard and its secrets.
19/02/2021 - 9/05/2021
National Museum of Scotland
Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF
Admission free
London
Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint
Museum temporarily closed
britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/thomas-becketMarking the 850th anniversary of this dramatic crime, this major exhibition will present Becket's tumultuous journey from a London merchant's son to Archbishop, and from a revered saint in death to a 'traitor' in the eyes of Henry VIII, over 350 years later. Becket was one of the most powerful figures of his time, serving as royal Chancellor and later as Archbishop of Canterbury. Initially a close friend of King Henry II, the two men became engaged in a bitter dispute that culminated in Becket's shocking murder by knights with close ties to the king. Get up close to the man, the murder and the legend through an incredible array of objects associated with Becket, including medieval stained glass, manuscripts, jewelry and sacred reliquaries. It will feature artefacts from the Museum's collection as well as important loans from other major collections from the UK and around the world.
Dates to be announced
The British Museum
Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG
Daily: 10.00-17.30, Fridays: 10.00-20.30
London
The Brooch Unpinned: The Goldsmiths’ Company Collection 1961–2021
goldsmiths-centre.org/whats-on‘This exhibition celebrates the art of the brooch and the dynamic relationships it creates – between maker and wearer and between wearer and viewer. It explores a selection of British brooches from the Goldsmiths’ Company’s unique jewellery collection, tracing the evolution of contemporary design in this most wearable and revealing of accessories. From ancient times, a brooch could be an emblem of authority, wealth and power. Before buttons or hooks, a brooch was the only way to fix textile to the body. That relationship with the body, and with textiles, underlines the role of micro-engineering in making a brooch work. Brooches are versatile, can be worn to convey a message, or to spark a conversation. Brooches were at the heart of post-War jewellery design. Wendy Ramshaw referred to the brooch as ‘a portable artform’, and, as exemplified by our latest acquisitions for the Goldsmiths’ Company collection, they continue to fascinate and challenge contemporary makers.
12/04/2021 - 30/06/2021
The Goldsmiths' Centre
42 Britton Street, London, EC1M 5AD
9am - 5pm
London
Becket 2020. Pilgrim Badge Display
Museum hoping to re-open 19 May
museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/whats-on/exhibitions/becket20202020 marks an important dual anniversary for the extraordinary figure of Thomas Becket. It will be 850 years since his dramatic murder on the 29th December 1170 in Canterbury Cathedral, and 800 years since his body was moved on the 7th July 1220 from a tomb in the crypt of the cathedral into a glittering shrine. While St Thomas Becket is an internationally renowned figure, his connections to London are rather less well-known. For over 300 years, Londoners flocked to Becket's shrine in Canterbury often returning with a pewter badge as a keepsake. Hundreds of these pilgrim souvenirs have been recovered from London excavations and mudlarking activity along the Thames and the museum holds the largest collection in the country. The Museum of London will use some of its pilgrim badges, which is the largest collection in the country, to illustrate St Thomas Becket’s extraordinary life and his connections to the capital. Undertake your own mini-pilgrimage through the museum’s Medieval London Gallery as you discover more about Thomas Becket the man and his early life in London, his exile and murder, the impact of his death and rise in miracle cures and finally, Becket’s shrine and the Jubilee of the Martyrdom in 1220.
14/02/2020 -
Museum of London
150 London Wall, Barbican, London EC2Y 5HN
Open daily 10am - 6pm
Admission FREE
London
Bags: Inside Out
Museum temporarily closed
vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/bagsFrom rucksacks to despatch boxes, Birkin bags to Louis Vuitton luggage, Bags: Inside Out will explore the style, function, design and craftsmanship of the ultimate accessory. Bags project bold statements to the outside world whilst concealing our most treasured belongings. Featuring around 300 objects, varying in scale from tiny purses held on a fingertip to luxurious travel trunks, the exhibition explores the function, status and craftsmanship of these highly covetable objects from the 16th century to today.
20/12/2020 - 12/09/2021
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
Daily: 10.00 – 17.40, Friday: 10.00 – 22.00
Adults £12
Scunthorpe
Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine
2021visualartscentre.co.uk
13/02/2021 - 1/05/2021
20-21 Visual Arts Centre
Church Square Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN15 6TB
Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-4pm
Admission free
Wrexham
Temporarily closed
Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine
dates tbc. 2021
Tŷ Pawb
Market Street, Wrexham, Wales LL13 8BY
Admission free
EUROPE EX-UK
AUSTRIA
Vienna
Aztecs
Exhibition extended to 22 June
volkskundemuseum.atAt 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,
Thursday to Tuesday, 10.00 - 18.00
Adults €12, concessions €9, free under 19
BELGIUM
Antwerp
Masterpieces in Miniature. Treasures from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection
divaantwerp.be/en/visit/eventsThis exhibition is an ode to Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert’s impressive legacy and a chance for the public to admire these treasures from close to. As a visitor you are plunged into the world of the Gilberts and their dazzling collection. You will make the acquaintance of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert and come to understand their collecting habits, travel with them as they go in search of exceptional craftsmanship and beauty and encounter famous historical figures such as the tsarina Catharine the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Victoria. This is the first time items from all categories of the Gilbert Collection will go on display on the European continent. Some objects, such as a 16th-century partridge cup, are exclusive to the Antwerp exhibition.
5/03/2021 - 15/08/2021
DIVA
Suikerrui 17-19, Antwerpen - BE - 2000
Thursday to Tuesday, 10.00 - 18.00
Adults €12, concessions €7, free under 12
Mechelen
Renaissance Children
hofvanbusleyden.be/renaissance-childrenFor the Burgundian and the early Habsburg princes, Mechelen was not only an important political and cultural hub but also an educational centre. Three consecutive generations of Habsburg princes and princesses, including Philip the Fair, Margaret of Austria and Charles V, spent part of their childhood here. This exhibition will gather a unique selection of children’s portraits, which were commissioned for the court at Mechelen, for the very first time, as well as tell the historical, educational and artistic story behind them. Portraits by such prominent painters as the Master of the Mechelen Guild of St. George and Jan Gossart will be exhibited alongside valuable manuscripts that were used to teach children to read and write, as well as treatises on education by Desiderius Erasmus and Juan Luis Vives, sixteenth-century children’s toys and rare jewellery that was said to protect the wearer against illness and death.
26/03/2021 - 4/07/2021
Museum Hof van Busleyden
Sint-Janstraat 2a (enter through the garden), 2800 Mechelen
Thursday to Tuesday, 10.00 - 17.00, Thursday 10.00 - 22.00
Adults €10, concessions €2, 7, free under 13
Morlanwelz
The world of Clovis. Merovingian Itineraries
musee-mariemont.beThis exhibition offers a new summation of the High Middle Ages and makes us rediscover the world of the Merovingians, a period in history, rich in trade and commerce, cultural influences and religious practises, new territories and populations in motion. Garnets from Sri Lanka, amber from the Baltics, broad ranges of weapons, ornaments and jewels of precious alloy… What if these testaments of far off lands were here, just underneath our feet?
26/03/2021 - 4/07/2021
Royal Museum of Mariemont
Chaussée de Mariemont, 100, 7140 Morlanwelz
Tuesday - Sunday. October to March from 10.00 to 17.00, April to September from 10.00 to 18.00.
Adults €5, concessions €2, 7, free under 12
FINLAND
Jyväskylä
Treasures of the Bazaars. The beauty and symbolism of nomadic textiles from Morocco to Tibet
Ending soon
craftmuseum.fi/en/node/20812/treasures-bazars-91-1842021This exhibition, postponed from 2020 due to the corona virus, showcases traditional textiles and jewellery from the private collection of art collector Tuomas Sopanen. Pastoralism and traditions appear clear in these utility textiles and decorations. A part of Sopanen’s collection is a significant amount of jewellery from the nomad regions. This magnificent silver jewellery with its amazing details can also be admired in the exhibition. The special characteristics of tribes and areas can clearly be seen in the traditional nomad jewellery, just as in kilims or Finnish ryas and national costumes. Together with the kilim rugs, it gives a wonderful insight into the nomad cultures from Morocco to Tibet.
9/01/2021 - 18/04/2021
The Craft Museum of Finland
Kauppakatu 25, 40100 Jyväskylä
Tuesday - Sunday, 11:00 - 18:00
Adults 8€, Pensioners 6€, Students 4€
FRANCE
Paris
Joséphine et Napoleon, une histoire (extra) ordinaire
Exhibition postponed
chaumet.com/en/exhibitionsThis exhibition will focus on the pair’s love story, featuring jewellery, paintings, letters, illustrated documents and other artwork, displayed in the historic rooms overlooking the Place Vendôme. In addition to pieces from Chaumet’s collection, curator Pierre Branda has gathered items from public and private collections, including the Royal Danish Collection and the Louvre Museum. It is part of a series of events marking the “Year of Napoleon” in France, which will include exhibits at the Archives Nationales, the Musée de l’Armée and the Musée de Malmaison.
10/04/2021 - 12/06/2021
Chaumet
12, place Vendôme, 75001 Paris
Monday - Saturday, 10:30 - 18:00
Paris
Jean Vendome, Artist Jeweler
Hopefully re-opening soon. Virtual exhibition online
lecolevancleefarpels.comJean Vendome, an adventurous creator and true artist, created his own world of art. He bucked fashion trends with his own personal and pioneering style, which means that his pieces have personality, but are also visually balanced owing to their proportionality with the golden ratio. Simple yet sophisticated, powerful yet intricate, eccentric yet well-designed, constructed and deconstructed, Jean Vendome’s jewellery is emotional and never rational. In order to be appreciated fully, it must be loved and understood, as it is the jewellery that chooses the wearer. The private collections on display will emphasise the visionary side of his creations. 130 pieces will be on show, including Aléna Caillois’ wonderful necklace. The retrospective will also feature pieces from public collections at institutions including the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as well as the sword of the academician Roger Caillois, on special loan from the Musée des Confluences in Lyon.
15/12/2020 - 27/02/2021
L'École in Paris
31 rue Danielle Casanova 75001 Paris
Tuesday - Saturday, 13:00 - 19:00
Free admission by reservation
Paris
Collect / Connect. Bijoux contemporains
Temporarily closed again. Exhibition extended to 3 October
madparis.fr/francais/musees/musee-des-arts-decoratifsAs part of the 2020 Jewellery Trail, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is presenting original pieces from two designers: Julie Decubber and Stefania Lucchetta. Julie Decubber continues her ceramic explorations by offering an immersion in the eclectic world of contemporary ceramics, by creating a collection of “jewels narrated” , using shards of rejected work as material, thus revealing the personalities of the ceramicists superimposed on hers, like exquisite corpses. The fragments, which have become jewels, maintain a new link, that of the intimate relationship. Halfway between documentary and jewellery, this exhibition is wrapped in a soundscape, captured at the meetings on the ground. Stefania Lucchetta is a pioneer in the use of 3D modelling software and prototyping machines for jewellery. For nearly 20 years, these new technologies have represented for her the means of making concrete complex shapes which are impossible to obtain using traditional techniques. Titanium, a material she favours, allows her to combine lightness and expressive requirements. About fifteen jewels invite the visitor to discover these real miniature sculptures: the first geometric and abstract structures become, in more recent jewels made speically for this exhibition, organic sculptures close to the curves found in nature.
6/10/2020 - 3/10/2021
Musée des Arts Décoratifs
107 rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris
Tuesday to Sunday, 11.00 - 18.00, Thursday 11.00 - 21.00
Adults €14, concessions €10, free under 26
Paris
Luxes
Museum temporarily closed. Exhibition extended to 18 July
madparis.fr/francais/musees/musee-des-arts-decoratifsPresented in 2019 at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, this project, designed by Olivier Gabet, is adapted to the Western context at the museum he directs in Paris. The exhibition invites the visitor to discover around 100 pieces of what was and is today the concept of luxury through majestic pieces in precious materials, the creative madness of merchants, the first artistic directors, the splendour of the luxury industries at the time of the great universal exhibitions, haute couture, and the panache of French luxury houses at the start of the 21st century. These works of art, fashion, jewellery or design are brought together to evoke key moments, to shed light or invite reflection on issues in our contemporary society: consumerism and ostentation, the relationship to spirituality and the sacred or even environmental awareness. And whether, in 2020, luxury could try to return to these essentials that anchor humanity in a poetic and creative reality, combining freedom, transmission and know-how?
15/10/2020 - 18/07/2021
Musée des Arts Décoratifs
107 rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris
Tuesday to Sunday, 11.00 - 18.00, Thursday 11.00 - 21.00
Adults €14, concessions €10, free under 26
Paris
Pierres Précieuses
Museum closed until further notice
mnhn.fr/en/node/6306In collaboration with Van Cleef & Arpels, this exhibition offers an immersion in several intimately linked but rarely united universes: mineralogy, gemmology and jewellery. Diamond, ruby, emerald, aquamarine, turquoise ... Extracted from the depths of the Earth, coveted and sought after for millennia, gems - precious stones worked by man - have always been considered as instruments of power and objects of seduction but also, since the 18th century, as scientific subjects. Through a contemporary scenography, the exhibition brings together more than 500 minerals, gems and works of art from the collections of the Museum and more than 200 gems and jewellery creations from Maison Van Cleef & Arpels. This unique dialogue between mineral, gem and jewel structures the route and immerses the visitor in the history of the Earth, the processes of mineral formation and the latest scientific advances in geosciences. It also allows you to marvel at the most beautiful creations shaped by human hands from natural diversity.
16/09/2020 - 14/06/2021
Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 75005 Paris
Wednesday to Monday, 10.00 - 18.00
Adults €12, concessions €9
GERMANY
Berlin
Die Krone von Kertsch. Schätze aus Europas Frühzeit
The Crown of Kerch. Treasures from the Dawn of European History
Museum closed temporarily
smb.museum/en/exhibitionsGold jewellery from the migration period found near the Black Sea, silver brooches and magnificent belts from early medieval graves in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany: selections from the collection of Johannes von Diergardt will be on view again in Berlin for the first time in 80 years, re-turning to the city where they were displayed until 1934. Following the death of the collector and art lover, these works moved to the Römisch-Germanisches Museum in Cologne. Construction work in the Cologne museum now offers a prime opportunity to present the treasures to the Berlin public again for the first time in many years. An exhibition by the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, in collaboration with the Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt Köln
19/06/2020 - 25/09/2022
Neues Museum
James-Simon-Galerie, Bodestraße, 10178 Berlin
Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m
Adults €12, Concessions €6
Cologne
Danish Jewellery Box. Zeitgenössisches Schmuckdesign
Danish Jewellery Box. Contemporary jewellery design
Exhibition postponed
museenkoeln.de/portal/Exhibition-previewJewellery as an independent art form has a long tradition in Denmark. A simple and at the same time expressive minimalism is still a trademark of Danish jewellery. The exhibition therefore offers an impressive insight into 50 years of contemporary jewellery design, for which the Danish Arts Foundation has built a jewellery collection of around 300 objects since 1978.
28/11/2020 - 18/04/2021
Museum of Applied Arts (MAKK)
An der Rechtschule 50667 Köln
Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m
Adults €6, Concessions €4
Eutin
Fantasien in Gold und Silber
Fantasies in gold and silver
Exhibition postponed
museum.kreis-oh.de/AusstellungenCaroline Rügge has had a gallery workshop in Fleischauerstrasse in Lübeck since 1996 and has made a name for herself as a goldsmith with her individual jewellery and object design in the Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg art scene. In her impressive pieces of jewellery, chandeliers and vessels, she combines gold, silver and (semi) precious stones with paper, wood, stone, metal and glass. This creates exciting works between usability and pure aesthetics. The motifs that Caroline Rügge uses in her jewellery and vessels are often borrowed from nature and modelled in silver and gold. But there are also pieces of jewellery in which she processes parts found in nature directly. So some works are not really portable in the end, e.g. if filigree wasp nests adorn the finger ring, but that is precisely what gives them a new, purely artistic facet.
Spring 2021
Ostholstein Museum
Schlossplatz 1, 23701 Eutin
March to October : Tuesday to Sunday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Adults €6, Concessions €3.50
Munich
Münchner Schmuck. Perspectives on a private Munich Jewellery Collection
Exhibition extended to 26 September
muenchner-stadtmuseum.de/enSince the end of the 19th century, the craft of goldsmithing has gained in importance in Munich, and substantial numbers of goldsmiths still live and work in the city today. This is in no small part due to the internationally renowned jewellery and hollow ware course offered by the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. The Münchner Stadtmuseum has been fortunate to acquire a collection of Munich jewellery dating mainly from the period between the 1880s and 1930s and has joined forces with students from the Academy of Fine Arts course and their professor, Karen Pontoppidan, to mount an exhibition of this work. It seeks not only to offer visitors insights into these historical works and their background, but also to showcase today’s budding jewelry artists, their training, aims, approaches and significant works.
13/11/2020 - 26/09/2021
Münchner Stadtmuseum
St.-Jakobs-Platz 1, 80331 München
Tuesday – Sunday 10 am – 6 pm
Adults €7, Concessions €3.50
Pforzheim
Fe, Stahlpreis 2020 | Wismar, Hasselt, Lappeenranta – Three Countries, Three Cities, Three Schools
Exhibition extended to 18 July
schmuckmuseum.deOver the course of the past few years, three innovative training institutions specialising in jewellery design have evolved in these three cities, located in Germany, Belgium and Finland. In this exhibition, the Jewellery Museum will be spotlighting new aspects of international contemporary jewellery – created in places that don’t rank among the focal points of the jewellery scene but for this reason are breeding grounds for the development of refreshingly new approaches to art jewellery.
5/11/2020 - 18/07/2021
Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim
Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim
Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.00 p.m.
Adults €6, Concessions €3.50
Pforzheim
Simply Brilliant - Artist-Jewellers of the 1960s and 1970s
schmuckmuseum.de/en/exhibitions
Simply put, jewellery of the 1960s and '70s was revolutionary. If the 1950s were demure and controlled, the 1960s became an era of youthful rebellion and radical cultural change -and a new style of jewellery was part of that zeitgeist. From space-age plastic hoop earrings to the hippie's beaded necklaces, jewellery expressed individuality, nonconformity and the aesthetic, political, and intellectual values of the person who wore it. Beyond these expressions in inexpensive costume jewellery that was available to all, fine jewellery took an equal turn to incorporate the mood of the times. Young jewellery designers no longer wanted simply to create demure baubles that accessorized current fashions. They thought of themselves as artists first, jewellers second, approaching their work as any painter or sculptor. In cooperation with the Cincinnati Art Museum, and drawn from one of the most important private collections in the world, assembled by Kimberly Klosterman, this exhibition features the work of an international set of independent jewellers as well as major houses.
27/03/2021 - 27/06/2021
Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim
Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim
Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.00 p.m.
Adults €6, Concessions €3.50
Pforzheim
Delicate Like Iron - Jewellery from a private collection
schmuckmuseum.de/en/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions
In the period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century, what is called iron jewellery was very popular: elaborate necklaces, bracelets, pendant earrings, brooches and even rings, filigreed like lace – yet cast from iron. The pieces’ unobtrusive material, clear-cut formal idiom and somewhat inaccessible character reflect the values embraced by society back then: constancy, modesty and reticence. In line with the taste of the time, they feature elements from Gothic architecture or floral ornamental motifs from classical antiquity, such as palmettes, acanthus and wine leaves. In addition to Berlin – from which the French term »fer de Berlin« derives – the city of Gleiwitz (now Gliwice in Poland) was also home to an important foundry. At first, iron jewellery was mainly used as mourning jewellery, and many women were wearing what are called »Louise pendants« or »Louise brooches« after the early death of the well-liked Prussian Queen Louise in 1810. During the time of the Napoleonic Wars of Liberation, iron jewellery was being worn increasingly as a political statement or symbol of patriotism, and was donned »to save the fatherland« following an appeal by Princess Marianne of Prussia in 1813 to donate gold jewellery in exchange for pieces made of iron. What enabled the production of delicate iron jewellery in the first place was the state of technological development back then as a necessary prerequisite for transforming the technically demanding designs into tangible pieces. Some of the designs were created by the state architect of Prussia, Karl Friedrich Schinkel. During World War I, iron jewellery became fashionable again in the shape of rings, brooches or medallions with the inscription »Gold gab ich für Eisen« (I gave gold for iron), for example. The exhibits are from the Klaus-Peter and Judith Thomé Collection.
16/07/2021 - 6/02/2022
Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim
Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim
Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.00 p.m.
Adults €6, Concessions €3.50
Pforzheim
Exotic Formosa – Contemporary Jewellery from Taiwan, created by Ruan Weng Mong
Postponed until Autumn 2021
schmuckmuseum.deThe goldsmith and sculptor Ruan Weng Mong is a mediator between different worlds: born in Taiwan with Chinese-Japanese roots, and trained as a goldsmith in Germany, plus serving as President of the Goldsmiths’ Guild in Nuremberg for many years, he is at home on several continents. His artworks elegantly wed his sensibility for materials and his appreciation of (gem)stones to clear-cut shapes that connote both a European and an Asian formal idiom. While working as an instructor and lecturer in Taiwan, he was one of the first to introduce international contemporary jewellery to Taiwan, and contributed towards paving the way for the inspirational, top-level international exchange of ideas that is taking place there nowadays. The exhibition will be showcasing about 140 of his works in the genres of jewellery, sculpture and graphic art, created over a period of more than 40 years. This is the first time that contemporary Taiwanese-Asian jewellery and artistically created objects will be shown in Germany.
Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim
Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim
Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.00 p.m.
Adults €6, Concessions €3.50
Pforzheim
The Phenomenon of Jewellery – the Ethnographic Collection at the Jewellery Museum
museumspass.com/en/exhibition/phenomenon
There is something innately human about jewellery. The phenomenon of jewellery can be found in all epochs and eras, as well as in all cultures. The “Eva and Peter Herion” collection has been given to the Jewellery Museum as a permanent loan. When the remodelled Jewellery Museum opened in 2006, parts of the Herion Collection were set up with a special focus on Africa and Asia. Conceived as a semi-permanent exhibition back then, it will now be redesigned on the basis of a fundamentally new approach. The discussion held in recent years, and increasingly of late, about our approach to ethnographic artefacts requires a new view of non-European jewellery. The aim is to come up with a new concept that takes the insights gained from the current discussion and its key aspects into due account. Here it is equally essential to see the objects in their individual cultural-historical contexts, to consider the artistic aspirations involved, and to regard them within the framework of global jewellery history.
27/11/2020 - 31/12/2025
Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim
Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim
Tuesday - Sunday 10.00 - 17.00 p.m.
Adults €6, Concessions €3.50
Schwäbisch Hall
Leonhard Kern und Europa - Die Kaiserliche Schatzkammer Wien im Dialog mit der Sammlung Würth
Leonhard Kern and Europe - The Imperial Treasury Vienna in combination with the Würth Collection
Museum closed until further notice
schwaebischhall.de/de/kultur-tourismusThe baroque sculptor Leonhard Kern, born in Hohenlohe and settled in Schwäbisch Hall with his successful workshop after extensive travels, enchanted the princely Kunstkammers of Europe with his carved jewels. The Imperial Treasury Vienna, the greatest collection of its kind in the world, is the first to combine its masterpieces by Leonhard Kern with those of the Würth Collection. Complemented by works by stars of Italian art such as Mantegna or Giambologna, we experience highlights of European art history between the Renaissance and the Baroque. Works of modern art from the Würth Collection also direct our gaze from today's perspective to the local and at the same time European-oriented artist. A cooperation with the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien and the Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum, Schwäbisch Hall.
22/03/2021 - 26/09/2021
Kunsthalle Würth
Lange Straße 35, 74523 Schwäbisch Hall
Daily: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m
Admission is free
GREECE
Athens
A History of Contemporary Czech Jewelry Design
Museum closed until further notice. Exhibition to be rescheduled
lalaounis-jewelrymuseum.grA survey of artistic jewellery making from the Czech Republic with the most prominent artists, from the 1930’s generation up to Generation Z. The exhibition explores traditional crafts and fine arts for the making of new sculptural jewellery, up to the most recent creations by people born between 1995 and 2010 who are true digital natives. From the use of glass to inspiration by abstract exposure to the internet, social networks and mobile systems, the show is curated by an expert on studio jewellery Julie Bergmann.
11/11/2020 – 31/01/2021
Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum
Kallisperi 12 & Karyatidon Str., Acropolis 11742, Athens
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 9.00 – 15.00, Wednesday & Saturday: 9.00 – 21.00
Adults €5, Concessions €4
ITALY
Milan
Fabergè
The exhibition features a selection of unique articles by the famous Fabergé firm from the collection of Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg. Among the main masterpieces of the exhibition are precious Easter eggs created by Carl Fabergé for Russian emperors, as well as diplomatic gifts, jewelry, memorabilia, and the famous “objects of fantasy” that made Fabergé tremendously popular among the Russian and European aristocracy of his time.
November 2021 - February 2022
Palazzo Reale
Piazza del Duomo, 12 - Milano
Tuesday - Sunday, 9.30 - 19.30, Monday 14:30 - 19:30, Thursday, Saturday until 22.30
Adults €14, Concessions €12
Pompeii
Venustas: Grace and Beauty at Pompeii
Museum closed until further notice. Exhibition extended to 31 July 2021
pompeiisites.org/en/exhibitions/venustas-grace-and-beauty-at-pompeiiCreams, make-up, perfumed baths, mirrors for admiring oneself, ornaments for clothes and jewels, amulets, statuettes and precious objects dedicated to the gods. Accessories and fashionable objects which allowed one to pursue an ideal of perfection and beauty. Today just as in Antiquity. In one word, VENUSTAS. To be precise, ‘beauty, grace, elegance and charm’. The Latin term succinctly conveys these ideals which have been particularly sought-after and coveted by women throughout history, and gives its name to this rich exhibition. It is an immersion into what the norms and aesthetic tastes of the populations who lived around Vesuvius were in ancient times (from the 8th/7th centuries BC to the 1st century AD), on the basis of the roughly 300 finds which have been discovered in the various sites of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, including: the protohistoric village of Poggiomarino, the protohistoric necropoleis of Striano and the Archaic Necropolis of Stabiae, the sanctuaries of Pompeii and Stabiae, the villas of Oplontis and Terzigno, and finally the ancient settlement of Pompeii and its surroundings.
31/07/2020 - 31/07/2021
the Large Palaestra
Archaeological Park of Pompeii
Tuesday - Sunday, 9.15 - 16.40
Adults €16, Concessions €2
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam
Goddesses of Art Nouveau
Museum temporarily closed
allardpierson.nl/en/visit/goddesses-of-art-nouveauThe Allard Pierson, in partnership with two museums in Germany, is compiling an exhibition about the international art nouveau movement. Key features of this style, which held sway throughout Europe from 1890 to 1910, are flowing lines and floral motifs. Another characteristic is the frequent depiction of beautiful females. Many of them are divine figures taken from classical antiquity, Byzantine icons, medieval legends and contemporary muses. In this exhibition the fascination for female beauty is examined more closely in the context of the social developments of the period. What is particularly striking is that the women, with their luxuriant hair and transparent robes, not only looked like goddesses but also functioned as such. Almost invariably they symbolized something larger than themselves, lending designs a symbolic meaning and often embodying higher ideals, human feelings or timeless virtues. On display are works by Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, Aubrey Beardsley, René Lalique and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as countless objects by other celebrated designers, with particular attention for female artists. Photography and film also feature, with the exhibition including a film recording of the revolutionary Serpentine Dance by Loïe Fuller, the dancer who greatly inspired art nouveau artists.
9/02/2020 – 21/03/2021
Allard Pierson
Oude Turfmarkt 127-129, 1012 GC Amsterdam
Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
Adults €10, Youth and students €5
Leiden
Pracht en precisie
Magnificent and Meticulous - Highlights from the collection of cut stones
Museum temporarily closed
rmo.nl/en/exhibitionsThis exhibition brings together the most beautiful and remarkable cut stones from the collection of the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. You will see over a hundred examples of these colourful and often precious gems with engraved images. They come from the ancient Near East, Egypt and classical antiquity. Some are no larger than a fingertip. The stones display images of gods, animals, symbols, emperors and magic spells. The exhibition introduces you to the extraordinary craftsmanship of the artists who cut stones in antiquity and the centuries that followed. You will discover the symbolism behind varieties of stone and the enormously diverse engraved images. Enormous enlargements of some of these minute scenes are projected around the room. In addition, you will get to know the owners and admirers of the stones and the many ways they used them over the centuries. To complement the stones and their images, the exhibition also contains antique chests of drawers that were used by 19th-century collectors.
9/02/2020 – 4/09/2022
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
Rapenburg 28, 2311 EW Leiden
Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
Adults €12.50, Children under 18 €4
RUSSIA
Moscow
Suprematism Vision: Space Motifs in the Graphic Works and Jewellery Designs of Nadia Léger
kreml.ru/en-Us/exhibitions/moscow-kremlin
The exhibition is dedicated to the art of Nadia Léger (1904-1982), a famous artist of the 20th century, a bright representative of the Parisian art school. The oeuvre of this talented painter and graphic artist, who was also engaged in monumental art and design, was the amalgam and reinterpretation of the major artistic trends of the 20th century, such as Cubism, Suprematism, Purism and Socialist Realism. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nadia Léger turned to an early period of her creative career dating back to the early 1920s that of the "flight forms". It was inspired by the dawn of the Space Age. of Yuri Gagarin’s feat stunned Nadia: this miracle, which became a reality, was perceived by her as the ultimate fulfilment of her teacher, the founder of Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich’s vision and earlier dreams. In 1970, Nadia Léger created a series of suprematism jewellery pieces based on her paintings and graphic works in gold, platinum, and diamonds. She presented the Soviet Union with thirty-seven pieces of precious "cosmic" jewellery – brooches, rings and watches in 1976. They were transferred to the Moscow Kremlin Museums in 1980, where they are preserved to this day. A remarkable collection of avant-garde jewellery will be on public display for the first time, and it will focus on a less explored aspect of Nadia Léger's outstanding talent. Along with the jewellery pieces, it will showcase a graphic portrait of Nadia, made by her husband Fernand Léger; Suprematist Compositions from the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and Pablo Picasso’s drawing from the collection of the Karisalov family, depicting Yuri Gagarin as a soaring dove.
6/04/2021 – 01/09/2021
Anteroom of the Armoury Chamber
The Moscow Kremlin State Historical and Cultural Museum and Heritage Site, 103132 Russia, Moscow, Kremlin
Friday - Wednesday 9:30 to 18:00
Adults 1000 RUB. 500 RUB for all under-16s.
SPAIN
Barcelona
Picasso and the artist's jewellery
Exhibition postponed to a later date
bcn.cat/museupicasso/en/exhibitions/futureFor Pablo Picasso, jewellery was the most personal ways of expressing himself. These objects, usually intended for the people closest to him, were coveted as treasures that he refused to reproduce in large quantities or even exhibit. It would be necessary to wait until the late 1960s to see a series for sale. For the artist, these objects were for sure something much more than just ornaments. The jewel has always been endowed with extraordinary expressive potential, sometimes a talisman, for others, a charm. The jewel is impregnated with this magic of intimacy. This exhibition will present a selection of works from one of the most important international collections of artist jewellery. From surrealism to contemporary productions, from André Derain to Niki de Saint-Phalle, to Miquel Barceló, Lucio Fontana and Louise Bourgeois, the collection of jewellery gathered together is an example of diversity and masterpieces.
20/05/2020 - 26/09/2020
Museu Picasso
c/ Montcada, 15-23 - 08003 Barcelona
Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 9pm
Adults €12, concessions €7
AMERICAS
USA
Baltimore, MD
Betty Cooke: The Circle and the Line
thewalters.org/exhibitions/betty-cooke
Betty Cooke is a legend in the world of modernist jewellery. During her 70-year career, Cooke has remained true to a minimalist style that has won her awards, the devotion of loyal patrons, and representation in museum collections. This exhibition is the first major museum retrospective of the Baltimore artist’s work. It explores the themes, and expressions in Cooke’s jewelry practice, and spans the period from her earliest designs in the 1940s and ’50s to the present. Cooke grew up in Baltimore, attending the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she also taught for 22 years. Her first working location was a studio, showroom, and residence on Tyson Street, a few blocks from the Walters, which she had visited from childhood; the medieval armour collection was a particular favourite. In 1965, Cooke, with her husband and business partner, William O. Steinmetz (d. 2016), moved from Tyson Street to the Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore’s northern suburbs, where they opened The Store Ltd. Over the years her jewellery has been featured in Vogue and received two Diamonds Today awards from DeBeers. In 1996 she was made a Fellow of the American Craft Council. Below the surface of Cooke’s work are deeply personal, witty, and emotional meanings. She is inspired by the natural world, especially animals and birds, as well as kinetic forms, and uses materials as varied as metal tubing, enamel, wood, and gemstones. Cooke’s strong sense of composition underlies all of her work and is based in her conviction that with “a circle and a line, you can make anything.” 'Betty Cooke: The Circle and the Line' comprises approximately 160 objects drawn from public and private lenders and Cooke’s own collection. It approaches Cooke’s jewellery as individual works of art and in relation to the body as sculpture in motion. In addition to her jewellery, the exhibition will include photography, drawings, and design sketches.
19/09/2021 - 2/01/2022
The Walters Art Museum
600 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21201
Wednesday–Sunday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday: 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
Admittance FREE
Bryn Athyn, PA
Sacred Adornment: Jewelry as Belief in Ancient Egypt
Exhibition extended to 31 October 2021
glencairnmuseum.org/exhibitionsSacred Adornment: Jewelry as Belief in Ancient Egypt, a stunning new exhibition at Glencairn Museum, explores how jewellery in the Museum’s collection was used by the ancient Egyptians to adorn, to protect, and to express devotion to the divine. By examining the materials and symbols present in these ornaments, we can come away with a deeper understanding of the complex ideas that guided the artists, as well as the hopes and beliefs of those who wore this jewellery in ancient times. When Raymond Pitcairn purchased the ancient jewellery now in the Glencairn’s collection during the 1920s and 1930s, he intended for it to be worn by Mildred, his wife. It was later also worn by their daughters and granddaughters. Raymond designed dresses and gowns for Mildred to wear on special occasions, and it was not uncommon for elements of ancient jewellery to be incorporated into the dresses’ embellishments. One of these dresses will be on exhibit at Glencairn during the Sacred Adornment exhibition.
29/02/2020 – 8/11/2020, 19/01/2021 - 31/10/2021
Glencairn Museum
1001 Cathedral Road, PO Box 757, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009
Tuesday-Friday with 2:30 pm guided tour or by appointment; Weekends 1:00 – 4:30 pm, by donation, no appointment necessary
Adults $10, Concessions $8
New York, NY
Jewelry for America
Ending soon
metmuseum.org/exhibitionsSpanning three hundred years, this exhibition explores the evolution of jewellery in the USA, 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
Gallery 773, The Met Fifth Avenue
1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028
Saturday–Monday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday and Friday: 12–7 p.m.
$25 for adults; $17 for seniors; $12 for students
New York, NY
Arte del mar: Artistic Exchange in the Caribbean
metmuseum.org/exhibitionsArte 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
Saturday–Monday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday and Friday: 12–7 p.m.
$25 for adults; $17 for seniors; $12 for students
New York, NY
45 Stories in Jewelry. 1947 to Now
Exhibition ongoing - no end date announced
madmuseum.org/exhibition/45-stories-jewelryMAD was an early advocate of jewellery as a form of artistic expression. Its 1956 inaugural exhibition, 'Craftsmanship in a Changing World', gave many Americans their first exposure to metalsmiths who were challenging the norms of conventional jewellery design and creating works rooted in sculptural experimentation. Because of the support of MAD and like-minded institutions, makers, and collectors around the world, the concept of jewellery as an art form took hold and flourished. To date, the Museum has presented more than 150 exhibitions featuring art jewellery and there are more than 950 pieces in the Museum’s permanent collection. This exhibition highlights the Museum of Arts and Design’s contributions to the field’s advancements and contextualizes the bold experimental practices of its most compelling artists within the key historical moments that ultimately broadened the scope and reach of art as a wearable medium.
13/02/2020 - 24/01/2021
Museum of Arts and Design
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 11001
Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun: 10 am–6 pm; Thu: 10 am–9 pm
$18 for adults; $14 for seniors; $12 for students
Tacoma, WA
Take 9/Reflections on Glass Jewelry
museumofglass.org/take-9Glass has long played a role in personal adornment because of its decorative qualities. But the nine internationally acclaimed artists featured in this exhibition—Nirit Dekel (Israel), Don Friedlich (USA), Teri Greeves (Kiowa)(USA), Mieke Groot (Netherlands), Timothy Horn (Australia, working in USA), Paolo Marcolongo (Italy), Patricia Niemann (German, working in Scotland), Bernhard Schobinger (Switzerland), and Joyce Scott (USA)—have chosen instead to focus on the symbolic and metaphoric qualities of glass to make strong social, political, and cultural statements. Glass embodies the paradoxical ability to be transparent and opaque, fragile and strong, alluring and hazardous—traits that are often associated with the human condition. The artists represented here work with glass as their primary or recurring material; each, however, takes a very different approach to the medium. They use a variety of masterful techniques to present unique perspectives that are informed by their diverse cultural and geographic backgrounds. While some works are designed for the human body, others serve as oversized metaphors that challenge accepted norms for adornment. The resulting objects are compelling and of enduring interest.
opening Spring 2022
Museum of Glass
1801 Dock Street, Tacoma, WA 98402
Wednesday - Saturday: 10am–5pm, Sunday: 12–5pm
Adults: $17, Concessions $5-15
Washington, DC
Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa
Museum temporarily closed. Exhibition online
africa.si.edu/exhibitionsGold from West Africa was the engine that drove the movement of things, people, and ideas across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East in an interconnected medieval world. As the incredible works in this exhibition show, it is not possible to understand the emergence of the early modern world without this West African story. Caravans of Gold calls on what archaeologists have termed “the archaeological imagination”—the act of recapturing the past through surviving traces—to present a critical rethinking of the medieval period. Here, rare and precious archaeological fragments are seen side by side, bringing new understanding to complete works of art from the medieval period. Medieval Africa begins with the spread of Islam in the 8th century BC and recedes with the arrival of Europeans along the continent’s Atlantic Coast at the end of the 15th century. During this era, the Sahara Desert was the centre of a global network of exchange. As networks spread, so too did cultural practices, fostering the broad circulation of distinctive Saharan aesthetic and intellectual traditions connected to Islam. The reach of trans-Saharan exchange is revealed in the fragments excavated from archaeological sites, now uninhabited, that were once vibrant communities.
11/04/2020 - 29/11/2020
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
950 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20560
Daily 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Admission is free.
AUSTRALASIA
New Zealand
Lower Hutt
Fool's Gold
Ending soon
dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/fools-gold2021 marks fifty years since the founding of The Dowse Art Museum in 1971—our golden anniversary. Fool’s Gold celebrates this moment by digging for gold in the collection, exploring some of the yellow, ochre and golden artworks that have been collected and treasured over the past fifty years. Fool’s Gold is the well-known nickname for the mineral, iron pyrite—a low-value material whose metallic lustre and pale brass-yellow hue gives it a superficial resemblance to real gold. However, like iron pyrite, all that glitters is not gold. This exhibition challenges you to consider the idea of value, and the ways we assign value to the things in our collection. Cultural value, historical value, monetary value—how do we determine the worth of the things we collect, and how might that sense of value change over time? From a golden Canterbury landscape to a gleaming pot scrubber, Fool’s Gold takes an inquisitive look at the golden moments and prized possessions at the heart of The Dowse collection.
2/02/2021 - 16/05/2021
The Dowse Art Museum
45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt, PO Box 30396, 5040
Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm.
Admittance FREE
Lower Hutt
Wild Domain: The Natural History of Jane Dodd Jewellery
dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/wild-domain-the-natural-history-of-jane-dodd-jewel
Representing the first major survey of Ōtepoti Dunedin-based jeweller Jane Dodd’s expanding family of works; this exhibition delves into her examination of humankind’s impact on the natural world. Featuring over 100 pieces from museum and private collections, this is a whirlwind tour of Dodd’s critical, humorous and touching journey to help us recognise our intrinsic relationship to nature and the planet we all share. Each work takes on a life of its own, that when combined with a wearer’s memories and associations, builds a story and a system of interconnected links. Together, these many components form, what has become, The Natural History of Jane Dodd Jewellery.
20/02/2021 - 27/06/2021
The Dowse Art Museum
45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt, PO Box 30396, 5040
Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm.
Admittance FREE