6 Visual Artists Who Dabbled in Jewelry-Making
Salvador Dali, The Eye of Time. Platinum, diamond, ruby and blue enamel brooch with a mechanical Movado watch movement. Sold for $300,000 via Sotheby's (May 2017).
How Visual Artists Became Jewelry Artists
Jewelry-making and art share a long, interwoven history, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that artists discovered the true potential of jewelry as another form of expression. These miniature works of art, often conceived for loved ones and intended for a very select market of connoisseurs, gave many artists the opportunity to test their practical ability and confront unprecedented constraints.
In recent years, these pieces have become a popular mainstay of the art market, with prominent sales taking place at renowned auction houses around the world. Here, we celebrate numerous jewelry artists and their playful experimentations with scale, medium and motif, that have brought us unique, unconventional and wearable works of art.
1. Alexander Calder: From Mobiles and Sculptures to Necklaces and Brooches
The work of legendary American artist and sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976) has long been synonymous with mobiles, sculptures, and his early wire works. Never satisfied with superfluous decoration, however, Calder used jewelry-making as an alternative way of communicating his artistic ideals and fondness for incorporating found materials and movement into his work.
Calder was merely eight years old when he first transformed copper scraps found in the street into miniature necklaces. From that moment through the course of his lifetime, he created approximately 1,800 jewelry pieces, many of which have been worn by famed figures, including Mary Rockefeller and Peggy Guggenheim.
Calder viewed jewelry-making as an extremely personal, impulsive endeavor, with each piece existing as a unique work. The piece below, gifted to Finnish architect Aino Aalto, is typical of Calder’s workmanship with brass and silver in abstract motifs, inspired by ancient cultures.
Alexander Calder, Untitled, Brass necklace, executed in 1939. Sold for $602,500 at Christie’s (May 2011).
Calder also had a desire to make affordable pieces, choosing to hammer and bend non-precious metals, such as brass, into wearable sculptures. His jewelry reflects the era’s Surrealist and Modernist aesthetic, and the pieces he developed became a status symbol for the bohemian elite of the time.
Alexander Calder, Untitled, brass and steel wire brooch, executed circa 1940. Sold for $120,000 at Christie’s (November 2006).
2. Man Ray: Surrealism in Gold Necklaces and Earrings
Man Ray (1890-1976) was a pioneer in 20th-century avant-garde art and photography and a leading member of Dadaism and Surrealism. In 1961, he ventured into jewelry-making, creating his first piece, La Jolie, from precious metals. Inspired by the female form, Ray later collaborated with GEM Montebello, an Italian jeweler renowned for producing some of the most creative jewelry of the era.
From 1970 until Ray’s death in 1976, the duo created eight jewelry designs, all in editions of twelve. Each piece echoes the artist’s surrealist portfolio. For example, his necklace, Les Amoureux (The Lovers), was inspired by an eponymous painting he created in the 1930s.
Man Ray, Les Amoureux, 18 carat gold necklace, executed in 1973. Sold for $22,500 by Christie’s (May 2010).
Ray also leveraged the medium to further explore the artistic preoccupations of his career. For instance, the idea for his long, gold, spiral earrings, Pendentif- Pendant (pictured below), stemmed from a lampshade project originally launched in 1919. The results were then featured in one of his photography shoots with Catherine Deneuve in 1968.
Man Ray, Pendantif-Pendant, 18 carat gold earrings, executed in 1973. Sold for $10,000 by Christie’s (May 2010).
The iconic Optic-Topic gold mask, of which 100 copies were made, plays with Man Ray’s ongoing exploration of voyeurism and fetishism. Ray explored this concept by hindering the wearer’s vision, allowing sight only through two spirals of tiny holes.
Man Ray, Optic-topic, gold plated silver mask. Conceived in 1972.
Sold for $23,750 by Christie’s (February 2019).
3. Pablo Picasso: Personal Jewelry Designs
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) had a prolific career that spanned nearly 80 years, becoming one of the most successful artists in history. However, he kept his jewelry-making a tightly guarded practice, as each piece held close associations to the personal relationships he maintained throughout his life.
In the 1930s, Picasso engraved miniature portraits of his then-lover, Dora Maar (a fellow artist), on items such as brooches, pendants and rings.
Pablo Picasso, Madoura silver pendant, executed in the 1940s. Signed by Pablo Picasso on the reverse. Sold for £1,250 by Lyon & Turnbull (June 2015).
The Owl Necklace, pictured here, was created in the 1940s in collaboration with his lover of ten years, Françoise Gilot. Gilot, a painter and art critic, features the piece in her autobiography, Life With Picasso.
Owl necklace suspended carved stone pendant in the form of a colored owl executed in 1948 by Francoise Gilot and Pablo Picasso. Sold for $32,500 via Christie’s (March 2010).
Both pieces exemplify the artist’s exploration of other mediums and the extent in which he incorporated his personal life into his work. It was only in the 1960s that Picasso decided to create a jewelry collection intended for sale. Working with jeweler François Hugo, Picasso created a series of 23 ct gold medallions, which closely mirrored the mythological themes inspired by African sculpture found in his drawings and ceramic models.
23 carat gold brooch in original box, executed in May 1973 by François Hugo in his studio in Aix-en-Provence, after a design by Pablo Picasso. Stamped with artist’s signature, numbered, with maker’s mark for François Hugo and with French assay mark ‘Picasso 16/20 1939 1953’. Sold for $13,200 via Christie’s (February 2007).
4. Salvador Dali: Blurring Jewelry and Art
Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was already a leading figure of the Surrealist movement when he began applying his token idiosyncratic approach to blur the lines between jewelry and art in 1941. Dali paired his signature imaginative approach with the painstaking craftsmanship of Argentine-born silver and goldsmith, Carlos Alemany, in his New York workshop. The partnership, which continued until 1970, resulted in a total of 40 unique designs, including the below Cultured Pearl and Ruby Brooch.
Cultured Pearl And Ruby Brooch, 18ct gold. Sold for $47,500 via Sotheby’s (December 2015).
Even in jewelry-making, Dalí continued reinventing universally celebrated themes such as anthropomorphism, metamorphism and cosmology in both nature and religion. The most lauded, and best performing example at auction, is undoubtedly Dali’s The Eye of Time, which was originally conceived as a gift for his wife, Gala. Surrounded by rows of pavé-set diamonds, the eye’s pupil comprises three shades of blue enamel and rests in a platinum ring with a cabochon ruby. It also brilliantly doubles as the face of a working Movado watch movement.
Salvador Dali, The Eye of Time. Platinum, diamond, ruby and blue enamel brooch with a mechanical Movado watch movement. Sold for $300,000 via Sotheby’s (May 2017).
Even with more playful pieces, such as these ‘Telephone’ Ear clips, Dali was keen to show how jewelry could be allegories for profound thought, saying that “They represent the ear; symbol of harmony and unity. They connote the speed of modern means of communication; the hope and the danger of an instantaneous change of thought.”
Ruby, Emerald and Diamond ‘Telephone’ Ear Clips executed circa 1949.
Sold for £27,500 via Sotheby’s (December 2008).
5. Lucio Fontana: Spatialism in Jewelry
Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) was the founder of the Spatialism movement and a leading figure in the Italian abstract movement. He spent his career stabbing and slashing canvases and other materials—each cut with a simple yet exacting expression.
Lesser known was his experimentation with jewelry, which follows his spatialist principles and interest in modern technology. They represent smaller versions of his artworks, making them instantly recognizable as Fontana originals. From the 1950s onward, he created a small collection of unique pieces in the Pomodoro brothers’ Milan studio. The below piece, Concetto Spaziale, shows his unique method of cutting and piercing holes into the surface of gold objects.
Gioiello: Concetto spaziale. Sold for €175,000 via Christie’s (April 2018).
He also developed more experimental pieces such as the Gold Bracelet, designed to adorn the length of the wearer’s forearm. This venture marked a significant departure from his signature style, further highlighting his penchant for rejecting traditional artistic techniques.
Gold Bracelet, executed by GEM in 1967, marked Lucio Fontana 1/30, in original pouch, together with a gelatin silver print of a promotional photograph by Ugo Mulas. Sold for $55,000 via Christie’s (June 2008).
In the 1960s, he designed a second series of jewels, this time in association with the renowned GEM Montebello. This collaboration produced four different sets of jewelry with his signature ‘slash’ motif. Each set contained 200 pieces adorned in various shades of lacquered silver, as seen in the example below.
Silver and Lacquer bracelet, executed by GEM in 1969, number 3 from an edition of 200. Sold for $68,500 via Christie’s (June 2008).
6. Jeff Koons: Ironic Jewelry Artist
Contemporary artist Jeff Koons (b. 1955) is best known for his controversial works from the late 20th and early 21st century. In particular, he developed mercantile pornographic installations, becoming the master of irony through the use of improper objects. His famous piece, ‘Rabbit’, a seemingly inflatable rabbit made of stainless steel with a mirrored surface, showcases his distinct style.
Platinum silver necklace by Jeff Koons in collaboration with Stella McCartney, 2005-2009. Sold for $87,500 via Sotheby’s (May 2015).
In 2005, Koons appropriated this symbolic figure as pieces of wearable art, reproducing them in a series of 50 white-gold pendants for fashion designer Stella McCartney. Measuring a mere 7.5 cm high (as opposed to his colossal 12-meter sculpture titled “Bouquet of Tulips”), this piece of jewelry expresses the ultra-kitsch approach of the American artist.
The Legacy of Artistic Jewelry
From surrealist brooches made with found materials to lacquered bracelets slashed with experimental designs, these six visual artists used their craft to redefine the landscape of jewelry-making. By adopting this wearable artform, they found novel ways to push the limits of their artistic expression and see their work honored on the bodies of their loved ones. Many of these pieces can be found circulating the art market today, showcasing the long-lasting influence and interest prompted by these groundbreaking designs.
Looking for more? Explore more stories about jewelry.
Alexis holds a PhD in art history and has enjoyed professional roles across gallery, museum, and academic settings. Thanks to these myriad experiences, Alexis holds a wealth of knowledge across the fields of fine and decorative arts and enjoys every opportunity to share these insights along with the stories of these makers and objects with Invaluable collectors.
