Driehaus Museum
40 East Erie Street
Chicago, IL, 60611
Maker & Muse: Women and Early Twentieth Century Art Jewelry
From 14th February 2015
Maker & Muse: Women and Early Twentieth Century Art Jewelry features more than 250 exemplary works of art jewelry between the Victorian Era and theFirst World War, including cloak clasps, hair ornaments, pins, brooches, rings, bracelets, pendants, necklaces, and several tiaras. This groundbreaking exhibition illuminates the international proliferation of art jewelry through the lens of woman as its maker and muse. For the first time during this period, women emerged as prominent jewelry makers in their own right, establishing independent studios amid changing social norms. In other regions, the female figure acted as a powerful muse, appearing in jewelry as audacious and novel motifs.
Drawn from the Driehaus Collection’s extensive jewelry holdings and prominent national collections, many of these stunning pieces have never been seen by the public. The exhibition upholds the same ideals of beauty as did its makers, who in the early decades of the twentieth century were inspired by broader art movements of the day to create audacious pieces of jewelry with dramatic forms, intricate craftsmanship, saturated colors, and semiprecious stones.
Maker & Muse explores five different areas of jewelry design and fabrication: the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain, Art Nouveau in France, Jugendstil in Germany and Austria, Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York, and American Arts and Crafts in Chicago. Each section explores the important female figures and historic social milieu associated with these movements, and is accompanied by historic photographs and immersive decorative arts of the period, including furnishings, posters, and stained glass.
Opening hours: Tuesday—Sunday, 10 a.m.—5 p.m.
The Museum is closed Mondays, Easter Sunday, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: $20
http://www.driehausmuseum.org/maker-and-muse