Sotheby’s Plans First Auction Dedicated to Artists’ Jewelry
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The latest indicator of consumers’ and collectors’ interest in refined jewelry is underscored by Sotheby’s, which plans to host its first dedicated auction to artists’ jewelry.
The assortment will feature pieces by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Salvador Dalí and other top-notch creatives of the 20th century and from more recent years. In what sounds like a matter of why-just-collect-art-when-you-can-wear-it, the event is being touted as “Art as Jewelry as Art.”
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The online bidding will get underway on Sept. 24 and will continue through Oct. 4.
Perusers and serious buyers alike will find a good amount of pieces that are going under the gavel. The event’s nine chapters are Kineticism, Abstract Expressionism, Sculpture, Surrealism, Avant-Garde, Maverick, Minimalism, Modernism and Visionaries. Concurrent with the dates of the online auction, the featured jewelry and accessories will be showcased in the Upper East Side auction house’s galleries alongside the Contemporary Curated Collection.
In addition to the aforementioned artists, there will be items from James de Givenchy, Louise Claude Lalanne, Pol Bury, George Braque, Lucio Fontana and other power players from the art world. Sotheby’s artist jewelry specialist and head of sale Tiffany Dubin said the selection of artists’ jewelry is meant to not only reintroduce these works to discerning customers but also present a defined category of art for a collection to be used for adornment and personal expression. “The way we define ourselves and the art we connect with are integral parts of who we are and is what ultimately defines us,” she said.
Online browsers, exhibition visitors and active bidders will also glean more knowledge of the artists’ experiences in jewelry and accessories. Many are familiar with the colorful kinetic mobiles and sculptures that Calder created, but they might not know that he crafted about 1,800 pieces of wearable art in his lifetime. The brass spiraled tiara he designed that first belonged to Lady Kenneth Clark is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.
While there is no denying the enduring allure in Surrealism by artists and fashion designers alike, that metier is often associated with Dalí. More recently, designers like Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry, Ulla Johnson and Marine Serre have incorporated surrealistic touches into their collections. The word “surrealism” first surfaced in Guillaume Apollinaire’s description of his 1917 play, “Les Mamelles de Tiresias,” but the artistic and literary movement by the same name — that allowed for freeing up the subconscious and irrational — was created by the poet André Breton seven years later. Surrealism’s lasting and global appeal was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Surrealism Beyond Borders” exhibition, which wrapped up earlier this year. This fall an exhibition about the photographer Horst P. Horst at the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta will touch upon elements of surrealism.
For some, Dalí’s 1931 landscape painting “The Persistence of Memory” epitomizes Surrealism. And, a pair of 18-karat gold “Persistence of Sound” earrings that he made in 1949 are expected to generate between $150,000 and $200,000 at auction.
More contemporary pieces from artists like Anish Kapoor, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Carmen Herrera will also be up for sale.
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