Dragonfly Woman by Rene Lalique – Art Nouveau

The Dragonfly Woman is one of the most notable works by French jeweler Rene Lalique. This corsage ornament was created in 1897, towards the latter end of the Art Nouveau movement that had made its way through Europe and the United States with its decorative style characterized by sinuous, asymmetrical lines.

Consisting of various materials such as gold, enamel, chrysoprase, chalcedony, moonstones, and diamonds, the Dragonfly Woman strikes a contrast between a regal female figure and an elaborate insectoid with large claws. This piece was presented at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and was later acquired by Armenian businessman Calouste Gulbekian in 1903.

The Works of Elsa Schiaparelli – Surrealism

Founded in 1924 by Andre Breton in Paris in 1924, the surrealist movement’s goal was to counter the restrictive boundaries of rationalism and liberate thought, language, and the human experience by eschewing typical structures in favor of the irrational, poetic, and revolutionary.

One of the earliest pioneers of surrealist jewelry is Elsa Schiaparelli, one of the most famous fashion designers who was herself influenced by known surrealists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. One of her most notable surrealist works is her 1938 rhodoid necklace studded with metallic insects, giving the impression that the wearer has bugs crawling on their skin.

7 Necessities for a Woman (to feel like a woman through the eyes of a man) by Ted Noten – Conceptual Art

7 Necessities for a Woman is a piece of art made by conceptual artist Ted Noten, consisting of 3D printed nylon guns with 18-karat gold details. These guns contain compartments for the eponymous necessities, such as lip gloss in the muzzle, a pill compartment in the loading chamber, a toothpick, a hairpin, and a small vial of perfume.

This commentary on how femininity is subject to patriarchal standards is a prime example of conceptualism, a movement that arose during the late 1960s with the purpose of enforcing ideas and theoretical practices as opposed to the creation of visual forms.

Bulgari’s Wild Pop – Pop Art

There are few names that are as synonymous with pop art as Andy Warhol, renowned painter, printmaker, and filmmaker. His style, which drew heavily from pop culture and employed commercial imagery to create accessible works of art, inspired Italian luxury brand Bulgari to create various works of jewelry celebrating 80s pop culture.

Various gemstones, such as diamonds, emeralds, amethyst, peridot, rubellite, onyx, and aquamarine have been combined to represent synthesizers, marijuana leaves, hair curlers, UFOs, and even Ronald Reagan. This line of jewelry was unveiled at a launch party at the iconic Stadio dei Marmi in Rome.

The Opticuts of Margaret De Patta – Constructivism

Constructivism was a movement established in Russia in 1915, existing as an embracing of industrial society and urban space, rejecting decorative stylization in favor of calculated and functional assemblage.

Margaret De Patta was a jeweler who embraced constructivism. Her jewelry was a combination of silversmithing and lapidary that, while not as flashy as her contemporaries, made use of visual effects such as light refraction, image reflection, and magnification, resulting in De Patta referring to her specially cut gems as opticuts.

The Works of Alexander Calder – Primitivism

Primitivism is a movement that was born from a reaction to both anxieties of advancements in technology and an examination of the symbiotic relationship between older cultures and nature. This movement manifested in various artists creating works inspired by iconography associated with those cultures.

Alexander Calder was an artist who produced over 2000 pieces of jewelry that reflected his fascination with African tribes. To this end, he used materials such as brass and steel, with bits of ceramic, wood, and glass, and he also adopted their methods, using snippets of wire or fashioned rivets to connect strips of metal instead of the more typical solder.

Silent Protest by Dr. Mahtab Hanna – Dada / Dadaism

Dadaism was a reactionary art movement established in response to the First World War. Its defining characteristic is that it is strictly anti-establishment, exposing accepted and repressive societal conditions through the rejection of conventional artistic practices. This form of artistic protest continues to this day across multiple mediums.

One of those mediums is protest jewelry, which was examined in 2017 by British-Persian jeweler Dr. Mahtab Hanna in her show Silent Protest. The show illustrated the connections between wearable art and social commentary by combining decadent jewelry with representations of power and struggle.

The Works of Art Smith – Modernism

British Caribbean jeweler Art Smith was a pioneer of the modernist jewelry movement, creating various large pieces that combined surrealism, biomorphism, and primitivism. They were designed to be worn by avant-garde dancers whose movements reflected the free-flowing style the jewelry evoked.

The modernist movement itself was born during the late 19th/early 20th century because of broad societal changes that many artists believed should herald in new styles of art that could better reflect the newly emerging industrial world. By combining African tribal jewelry and dance that incorporated jazz, a genre of music pioneered by African American artists, Smith used his art to create a modernist statement rejecting the suppression of African American culture.

Jewelry by Architects – Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a broad art movement that exists to highlight how knowledge claims and value systems are contingent or socially conditioned. In terms of jewelry, postmodernism functions similarly to how it did for architecture, in that postmodern artists were rejecting the rational combination of function and form, deeming it aesthetically unpleasing. As a result, the goal of both postmodern architecture and jewelry was to be visually extravagant and unconventional while still retaining some semblance of function.

In the early 80s, Italian designer Cleto Munari commissioned several well-known postmodern architects such as Ettore Sottsass, Michele De Lucchi, Hans Hollein, Alessandro Mendini, and Peter Eisenman to create several pieces of jewelry for his brand new store. In true postmodern fashion, these works combined bold primary colors and elaborate geometry to create jewelry whose function was not obvious on sight.

Blockchain by Simone Faurschou – Digital Art

As digital mediums not only grow in sophistication but become more accessible to aspiring artists, the works of art that can be created from those mediums follow suit. Blockchain is a modular work of jewelry art created by Simone Faurschou that takes this concept to its logical conclusion.

Blockchain exists both physically, as a series of uniquely designed white and yellow gold blocks, and within the digital realm as an NFT (non-fungible token), a crypto asset that records ownership of a digital item. With NFTs being made from all kinds of art including paintings and music, it only makes sense that jewelry follows suit.

Author Bio: Chris Holdsworth is a member of the Gemmological Association of Australia and the National Council of Jewelry Valuers and has diplomas in Gemmology and Diamond Technology. His family started Holdsworth Bros. Jewellers in 1884 and Chris now runs the business with his brother Tim.

The post Ten Pieces of Jewelry That Reflect Major Art Movements appeared first on Art Business News.

Where in the world does creativity thrive the most? Canva looked at four countries selected as some of the “most creative” in the latest ranking of the Global Creativity Index and found that the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand contributed around $1 billion in total last year to their respective governmental art programs, which seek to inspire and encourage art and creativity that in turn further build their economies. 

The data shows that the UK has invested over 300% more government funding of their central arts programs than the US and has increased funding by 11% over the past 10 years. Australia has increased investment into their arts programs by 18% and New Zealand by 33% while the US remains the same as it was 10 years ago with no increase in funding.

This means that federal funding in the US is just $0.47 per capita compared to the UK which is $9.46 per capita, Australia which is $5.2 per capita, and New Zealand which is $5.8 per capita.

However, this has not affected the revenue they have witnessed in their creative industries, with the US creative industry worth a massive $804 billion, followed by the UK at $130.6 billion and Australia and New Zealand at $58.7 billion and $2.4 billion respectively.

Canva also investigated the number of creative art degrees completed in the four countries over the past 10 years and found:

• The number of completed visual and performing arts degrees in the US has risen by 7% since 2006-07
• The number of completed creative arts & design degrees in the UK has risen by 17% over the past 10 years
• The number of completed creative arts degrees in Australia has risen by 21% over the past 10 years
• The number of completed creative arts degrees in New Zealand has dropped by 0.5% since 2009.

These increases mask the threats to creative industries and creativity across the world. Terry Flew, Professor of Creative Industry Studies, Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, says, “If there is a global economic downturn, this will disproportionately affect the creative industries. The challenge of digitalization is strong, too, but I also think that imagination exists to make this work, if digital platforms can be convinced (or compelled if required) to be supportive.”

He also cited policy indifference as one of the largest threats to creative industries and creativity across the world at present: “The resurgence of populist nationalism is also an issue, since cultural and creative exports tend to be connected with a more cosmopolitan mindset and openness to cultures from around the globe. They also face existential threats from the power of digital platforms, and their capacity to control distribution to the detriment of content creators.”

But despite challenges, countries can still thrive, and even without the hefty funding as in the US and the UK. Some regions cannot afford to invest into the creative industries or have various other demanding priorities to address. Professor Flew speaks about the bottom-up nature of some regions, such as Nollywood in Nigeria: “Lack of development is also often tied to problems in state capacity, such as corruption or excessive military spending, which in turn inhibits development. In these regions, CCI development is often bottom-up in nature, for example Nollywood cinema in Nigeria – a key challenge is to “formalize” these often informal sectors while retaining their market dynamism.”

Developing creative regions such as Latin America and Africa does seem to be showing some strong positive movements. The British Council’s report on the Brazilian Creative Economy found that there are one million creative jobs in Brazil and 200,000 creative businesses that account for 2.64% of its GDP—an almost 70% increase in the last decade. This is growing at an annual rate of 4.6% per year–more than double the growth of Brazilian economy overall. Fashion is the leading creative industry, followed by music, film and online media, which are all growing in Brazil. Meanwhile, Africa has one of the youngest populations in the world, and the growth of digital and mobile technology and systems means there’s many opportunities for progress powered by creative minds.

As Professor Flew mentions, Nigeria’s booming film industry, named Nollywood, has become the second largest film industry in the world, producing around 1,500 films every year–definitely an impressive number. Over a million people are employed in the industry, making it the country’s largest employer after agriculture, while also making close to $600 million annually, highlighting the wealth of creativity and demand for consuming it across the continent.

Indeed, the worldwide streaming service Netflix, worth billions of dollars, and a juggernaut of creativity and distribution online, has acquired films made in Nollywood and has even been inspired by Africa. They have recently announced the release date of “Queen Sono”, an spy show which will ”showcase an African aesthetic onscreen that the rest of the world has never had a chance to see… exploring the origins of contemporary trends through African eyes and the breadth of ideas that this vast continent has to offer,” according to Dorothy Ghettuba, head of International Originals for Africa at Netflix.

With African art and creativity clearly in high demand, I spoke to the founder of Afripedia, a website where African creatives worldwide can collaborate, create opportunities and inspire the next generation. “While producing the Afripedia series, it became evident that there was a significant group of talents across the continent who had remained underrepresented in the global creative industry,” explains Teddy Goitom, who co-founded the Afripedia project alongside Senay Berha. “Our aim is for Afripedia to serve as the premier search engine to find the best creative talents of African descent, a platform for creative collaborations across Africa and her diaspora, and a global employment pool for future top talents,” says Goitom.

Creativity drives success in every country that supports it. Whether it comes from government sources or independent organisations, investing in arts and culture has a significant beneficial impact on countries as a whole. And with this comes the growth, innovation and fresh ideas that will shape the global society of the future.

About Dan B. Shaw

With many family members working inside the world of art as designers, students and graffiti artists, Shaw has been inspired by artists and creativity his whole life, and remains an interested observer of all things art, using inspiration from all around him to draw on in his current path of digital and marketing.

Canva is a graphic-design and publishing tool for designers and non-designer alike. Canva seeks to inspire creations for use in a wide variety of industries. As advocates for creativity and innovation all over the world, Canva conducted this research to explore, understand, and highlight how important the creative industry is for people everywhere, and what more can be done to open up the doors of creativity for aspiring creatives globally. 

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