AJF members volunteer to provide reviews of books pertinent to the field, enabling members to access information about books that often are not to be found in mainstream bookstores.
It's not often you see an art book whose text is more interesting than the photographs. But such is the case with this retrospective catalog of the work of Gerd Rothmann.
The hefty 404-page book shows the artist's entire oeuvre (or at least everything he documented) from 1967 to 2008. The 589 2 x 2 inch photographs give a good idea of Rothmann's changing styles, and there are occasional full-page illustrations of some of his most distinctive pieces. But the text is a must-read for every collector, whether or not they know or care about the work itself.
Like several artists – and M.C. Escher is a case in point – Rothmann's earlier work in the 1960s and 1970s was interesting as far as it went. Only from the late 1970s onwards did he make a quantum design leap into the work for which he became most famous – his designs with fingerprints, noses and other body parts which combine surrealism and imaginative metalwork.
The designs are also extremely personal, as Rothmann explains in his commentaries. He quotes a friend who actually implied that he ‘became a goldsmith to come on to women. That art is just an excuse to fiddle around with them.’ The artist himself puts it differently: ‘It's just a result of a lifelong interest in the medium of jewelry in connection with people.’
Rothmann's rings, bracelets, necklaces and later his small vessels with cast fingerprints in silver or gold create a unique relationship with the wearer. Because it's your or your family’s prints, or your golden nose that is immortalized in the work.
The comments of his clients will resonate with every jewelry lover and collector. Dr. Christiane Lange, who wrote the preface to this book, says that ‘For over a decade now, I hardly leave my house without wearing a necklace by Gerd Rothmann . . . embossed with the fingerprints of both my parents.’ She adds, ‘Personally, I feel safely protected by the qualities of my mother and my father that now always accompany me within this gift.’
Speaking as a jeweler, I would have liked more information about Rothmann's process of making the fingerprints and using them in bigger pieces such as bowls and vases. There is a hint that he uses dental materials as well as wax, but you don't know whether the whole piece was cast or fabricated. I also wish the publisher had translated all the information in the captions into English. I can guess the meaning of ‘silber’ but what' is ‘kupfer’?
Speaking as a jewelry wearer, however, I would love to be Rothmann's client. I'd feel like his client Olga who said ‘I can't be without jewelry. . Whenever I go out I have to wear something. It calms me, it centers me, it makes me more confident.’ And so say all of us!
Werkverzeichnis: Catalog Raisonné – Gerd Rothman
Arnoldsche, 2009, English and German text, RRP $70.00 US
“You are only what you surround yourself with? No. You surround yourself only with who you are.” - Rob Walker, author, Buying In
There are books to be looked at before they are read. Read my Pins by Madeline Albright is such a book.
Begin by looking at only half of the photos –– the brooches. As you page through, note the sweetest, most tender brooches, such as cupids, doves, flowers, what the Victorians referred to as “sentimental” pieces. “Sentimental” is to Victorians, as “Narrative” is to jewelry art. Victorians were enamored with the idea that jewelry expressed a sentiment, a message, a remembrance.
Holding such an idea in mind, return to the book and do the following:
Look at all of the two hundred and eighty five pins. Guess at the size of each pin. One and a half inches? At the most two inches? Now, return to the book and study each photo of Madeline Albright.
Are you not surprised that many (most!) of these brooches are huge! These are not the dainties of the Victorians. However, what they share with the women of the 1800s is the message.
Take time to study each photo of Madeline Albright. Attempt to identify the person or persons beside her. Try to determine the brooch’s message.
Conclusion? Madeline Albright knows about the symbolic use of jewelry. It is apparent that this woman tells us by her jewelry, who she is, what she is thinking, and what she wants others to think.
Read My Pins focuses on those years she describes as the time of “post-marital independence.” After her divorce, she taught world affairs at Georgetown University, served as Ambassador to the United Nations, traveled the world as Secretary of State. She began to purchase her own jewelry. Her choices are thoughtful and specific. She was and is attracted to jewelry that tells the observer something about her:
This book is an easy afternoon’s read. The reason it is worth reading (in addition to the visual feast), is that Albright writes in a personable, conversational manner. She writes about why she collects and how her collection is an extension of her position and her person. By the end of the book when she writes, “…my pins are part of the package,” we in the world of jewelry art understand exactly what she means.
The index is a researcher’s and a reader’s delight. Not only is each piece of jewelry documented with the name of the piece, the maker (when known), the country of origin, and the size, but each description is attended by a photograph. No back-and-forth flipping of pages.
A parting suggestion for those of you who have friends or relatives who cannot, for the life of them, figure out why you are wedded to the world of jewelry art: give Madeline Albright’s book as a holiday present.
We know why Madeline Albright declares, Read My Pins. Time to pass it on.
READ MY PINS: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box
By Madeleine Albright
With Elaine Shocas, Vivienne Becker, and Bill Woodward
Melcher Media, Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
$40.00 ISBN 978-0-06-089918-9
Klaus Bürgel is an artist who defies categorization. Is he primarily a jeweler? Yes – and no. Does he care if his pieces are wearable? Not particularly. Is he a graphic artist? Certainly. A sculptor? Definitely, even though he often works in non-durable materials such as styrofoam, and occasionally creates pieces too big to leave his own studio.
This finely produced, limited edition book does an excellent job of presenting and sometimes explaining this multifaceted artist. Three essays attempt to get inside the artist’s head. Writer Susanna Moore, in “A sense of the Presence of the Past”, presents a somewhat romantic but not specially useful view of Bürgel’s work. More helpful is the German writer and curator Rafael von Uslar (“The Body is Not Enough, I Wanna Loop”), who delves at some length into Bürgel’s two main design forms, the endless loop and the polygram. There are also biographies of the artist and contributors.
Quite the most entertaining essay is a long conversation in New York between Bürgel and Karl Fritsch. The pair vent freely on their personal work, the overall art movement (particularly jewelry), collectors
(necessary but often timid), galleries and museums (frequently unimaginative). Here are a couple of Bürgel’s gems to cherish:
“There is a tipping point in jewelry where it does not work anymore. Where either the context has to be changed or where it has to start talking about something else but itself. Otherwise it will be trapped in an airtight space where nobody but a handful of collectors is interested. Nothing but a small sect talking to their gurus”.
“If something is good it does not matter what it is made out of. It works. Basta.”
“Endless Conundrum” is modeled on an artist’s work book, equally divided between jewelry, line drawings, sculptures and installations, though minus technical construction details. Some of the photographs look as though they have been roughly taped to the studio wall. Others show the work superimposed on photographs of the occasional human, or building, giving them a surreal quality, and opening the door to such speculation as “why not design outsize jewelry for a room, or the exterior of an otherwise boring office building?”
Some of the smaller pieces, such as the loop brooch series, get equal billing size-wise with larger installations, occupying 1-2 pages each. On one hand this emphasizes the sculptural intent of the work, and the unnerving feeling you might be trapped in its endless loop. However, it’s hard to see exactly how the brooches are attached or worn, since no findings (or models) are in evidence. Clearly Bürgel, who had a major hand in the book design, doesn’t care if the work is worn or not. Much clearer are the ruggedly wearable rings set with malachite, garnets and pyrites, and the hollowform ring and pendant showing beautifully sculpted “crystals” in 18k gold.
The artist’s ambivalence towards his jewelry is shown in this snatch of conversation with Karl Fritsch, who complimented him on his technical skills. Bürgel answered: “When I sit at the bench, I can’t help but think of myself as a tamed lion, and that jewelry is nothing else but art skillfully passing gas.”
ENDLESS CONUNDRUM; Klaus Bürgel - version 2
Darling Publications, 96pp. 2009.
This book is available from the following:
www.charonkransenarts.com
www.galleryloupe.com
www.klimt02.net
Whether you would enjoy this weighty (399 pp.) book or prefer to give it a pass depends on how you view yourself as a collector, and how interested you are in the broad field of contemporary European (particularly German) jewelry.
The author, former general editor Schmuck Magazin, does not pretend to have an international focus, nor is he an expert on “art jewelry”. However, he offers detailed and thoughtful information on later 20th century European jewelry, concentrating on top of the line manufacturers, studios, and leading designers who have succeeded in making work which is both artistic and commercially successful.
The book begins with a short history of jewelry from the Arts and Crafts movement till World War II, followed by the post- war goldsmithing renaissance, including pioneers like Max Fröhlich, Sigurd Persson, Friedrich Becker, Klaus Ullrich, Hermann Jünger, and that great duo Emmy van Leersum and Gijs Bakker. The central portion – on glossy paper with bigger than life-size photographs, mostly one to a page – displays the work of over 80 contemporary artists ..... many if not most of whom will be unfamiliar to American collectors. Needless to say, the work is superbly crafted, with the sheen of excellence acquired through long apprenticeships with European schools and older, established designers.
The author has arranged this impressive collection in chapters entitled clear form and minimalism, colored precious stones in a new light, jewelry as sculpture, variable jewelry systems, traditional values with modern influences and new signs and symbols. Probably the most visually daring is a small chapter on concepts of young jewelry designers. Each of the supersized photos has a short caption where Ludwig attempts (with variable success) to highlight the special feature of the design.
The most interesting section of the book gives detailed profiles of 63 jewelry designers and modern manufactories amply documenting why Germany is still such a power-house in the field. It also shows the interconnectness of the jewelry world, and the blurring of often made distinctions between “art jewelry”, “one-offs” or “production jewelry”. Well designed work in weird materials can be artistic and precious: innovative gem cutting, unusual designs with traditional pearls or gemstones can still be “art”. And the often intensive training received by these artists shows the web of apprenticeships from leading professors, distinguished artists and commercial studios which helps develop skill, inspiration and ultimately, success.
MODERN JEWELLERY DESIGN
Reinhold Ludwig
Arnoldsche Art Publishers $85
Inspired Jewelry is a book about a collection. It is the most recent volume showcasing a museum jewelry collection and arrives as a number of museums around the US are establishing or at least recognizing their collections of contemporary jewelry. The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) collection is significant because of the long time frame of pieces in the collection. The quality of most of the pieces is remarkable and reflects decades of collecting by The American Crafts Council through the museum (formerly The American Craft Museum), and important gifts such as the Johnson Wax Company and by the artists themselves. MAD’s collections contain some of the iconic pieces in the art jewelry field. Sam Kramer’s 1958 Roc Pendant, Art Smith’s 1948 Neckpiece, Arline Fisch’s 1966 Body Ornament, and Hiroko and Gene Pijanowski’s 1985 Neckpiece Gold No. 1 are good examples of the significance of the collection.Inspired Jewelry begins with a good essay by curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman who gives an introduction to the different subsets in the collection. Examples are given of Modernist Jewelry, Conceptual and Narrative Jewelry and jewelry inspired by new technology.
The book is organized by decade and the pieces are shown one-to-a-page in glorious new photographs mostly taken by John Bigelow Taylor and Dianne Dubler. Page after page these beautiful large images celebrate the achievements of the field. The photographers should be congratulated for their sensitivity to the varied materials and forms of the works. Where the book fails is context. Many of the artists represented here were pushing the boundries of what jewelry can accomplish, not only in terms of how a piece is actually worn but the intent of the work as well. By showing Arline Fisch’s Body Ornament off of a body robs the piece of what made it so extraordinary. The images are terrific but I find myself wanting more. Some of these pieces were originally photographed under the direction of the artist and these contemporary images of the work are as important as the pieces themselves. The image of Caroline Broadhead’s Veil of 1983 misses the drama of the original photo. The captions for the pieces are complete including information about how the pieces entered the collection but amazingly there is no index. There is a list of artists in MAD’s collection but no checklist of pieces. The book may be intended for a general audience but for those wanting more detailed information about the artists it is very frustrating. In Ornament as Art, the book documenting Helen Williams Drutt Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, there is a complete checklist with photographs of the entire collection and exhaustive biographical info as well. Granted, Inspired Jewelry cost $55 and not $125 but with the great effort that was made to get such beautiful images more information would have made this book more useful. That being said, MAD leads the way with a terrific website and a database with big chunks of the collection online. To take a look, click here.
There are other collections and books on the way. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has a book coming about the Daphne Farago Collection of contemporary jewelry. And pieces from Donna Schneier’s collection have been acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Racine Art Museum. I hope that publications about those collections will provide the important information that allows the field to understand where it has been and where it is going.
Inspired Jewelry should be in every collector’s library even with some shortcomings. Make sure you see the terrifc jewelry galleries at MAD next time you are in New York. The book will make you want to go.
Sam Kramer
Roc Pendant, 1956
Art Smith
Neckpiece, 1948
Hiroko and Gene Pijanowski
Neckpiece Gold No. 1, 1985
Caroline Broadhead
Veil of 1983
Inspired Jewelry from the Museum of Arts and Design
Price $55.
ISBN: 9-781851-495788
Published in: 2009
235 Pages, Hardcover
Size: 10"h x 9.5"w x 1"d
No one tells a story quite like Robin Kranitzky and Kim Overstreet. Each narrative is skillfully presented with just enough visual information to engage and pleasure the “reader”. Ultimately each work satisfies on its own merits but always leaves the observer wanting just one more story from this talented duo. K&O seem to have an inexhaustible number of literary delights swimming in their collective heads, ready to become the next jewel.
Having been seduced by their work some twenty years ago, I was ecstatic to hear of a planned survey exhibition. I would be able to revisit old stories and discover new ones, all in one place. The production of a catalogue would be the icing on the cake. Since a trip to Designmuseo in Helsinki, Finland was out of the question, I eagerly awaited news of a United States venue. To my disappointment, that has not materialized. The catalogue for Symbiotic Realms would have to suffice. I’d have to settle for a book.
Initially getting the catalogue was no small feat. It could be ordered only from the museum, in Euros, with a healthy dose of postage. It was a price I was willing to pay however. The book is arranged chronologically with close up photographs of varying quality. Some appear to have been subjected to software editing which tends to flatten the images; others are beautifully resolved. None truly disappoints. Each image is accompanied by a snippet of information; sometimes a summary of the story told; sometimes a description of why a particular piece had been made. I quite enjoyed this feature and felt that it added to my appreciation of the work.
To my surprise, however, there were very few, if any, old friends chosen to be in the exhibition. I have followed the work of Kranitzky and Overstreet with a zeal usually reserved for things other than narrative jewelry. I have seen much of their work, albeit many times in west coast venues. As happy as I am to be presented with “new” pieces, I long again to see some familiar work and “some that got away”. I miss the sense of balance that would have come with a more complete survey. So I am disappointed, not with what the monograph presents, but for what it doesn’t. It is an appetizer that begs for the entrée to complete the meal. Perhaps we will be fortunate enough to be treated to a Catalogue raissone someday. I surely hope so. Until then enjoy this installment. It will assuredly whet your appetite for more.
Now Symbiotic Realms may be ordered from Helen Drutt or Charon Kransen. And you can pay with dollars!
If there’s one word I would disagree with in the title of this book it would be “madness”. This weighty (519pp) volume, with its black and white comic book style cover, is in fact an exciting tribute to the serious, fun, dangerous and voluptuously varied work of 77 past and present students of Otto Künzli, Professor of Jewelry and Holloware at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.
Künzli’s students have three things in common: coming from all over the globe, they are all fully trained gold and silversmiths, they all rise to the thrill and danger of complete artistic freedom, and are prepared to take the time (up to five years) of what amounts to a post-postgraduate course in ornament as an art form. One student remembers this gem: when her work temporarily stalled, Künzli gave this terse advice: “Imagine the opposite”.
For the dedicated collector, this book is an excellent compendium of work by Künzli grads, many of whom have become household names … like Bettina Dittlmann, Karen Pontoppidan, Christiane Főrster and Karl Fritsch. More than 1,000 pieces are reproduced in the book; there are enough photographs of each artist to give a good idea of their work, and, in many cases, how it is displayed and worn. There are also individual commentaries on 14 of the 77 artists, plus biographies of everyone at the back, the latter only useful if you know German.
Essays by Maribel Kőniger and Ellen Maurer Zilioli give some background about what they call “auteur” (i.e. new, contemporary or art) jewelry, and of the Munich Academy and the “Künzli “ school. Unfortunately there are no photographs of the master teacher’s work, though Künzli does his best to describe his background and teaching philosophy. He said: “The works are as heterogeneous as they can be: amid wild and disorderly outbreaks of unhinged imagination there are still, delicate and poetic works”. Photographs at the front of the students at work and play show that the whole experience must have been a blast.
While “The Fat Booty of Madness” chronicles the work of the 2008 exhibition, these are held annually, while cooperative events are held intermittently with the Rietveld Academie, the Sandberg Institute and the Hiko Mizuno College. If you can’t get to Europe or Tokyo in person, at least read the book!
The Fat Boot of Madness
Edited by Forian Hufnagi
Arnoldsche Art Publishers, $75.00
What was the sound of the front door slamming? What kind of imprint would your living-room carpet leave on your naked knees? What was the smell of your mother like when she left Saturday night for a party? These are some of the assignments Iris Eichenberg gives her students so that through childhood memories they might gain insight into their obsessions and develop them into an artistic language. “From Hand to Hand: Passing on Skill and Knowledge in European Contemporary Jewellery” is an intriguing book that seeks to show that influence of teachers on their students.
This exhibition catalog accompanied a show of the same name that was mounted at MUDAC (Musée de Design et d’Arts Appliqués Contemporains, Lausanne) last year. Fifty-eight artists representing 10 European institutions were interviewed and the mostly short quotes showcase one of the most vibrant jewelry movements in the world today. Teachers talk about their approaches to creativity and students speak about what they learned. What is fascinating in this dialog is looking for stylistic threads that you might assume to be present from educator to student. They are mostly absent.
David Watkins and Michael Rowe at the Royal College of Art in London did not create a Royal College “look”. Instead the school produced, among many others, Christoph Zellweger and Mah Rana. And Otto Kunzli at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Munich has famously mentored some of the most accomplished artist jewelers working today. The singular voices of Bettina Speckner, Bettina Dittleman, Doris Betz and Karl Fritsch are a testament to Kunzli’s ability to foster independent approaches to contemporary jewelry.
Essays by Carole Guinard, Liesbeth den Besten and Monica Gaspar provide a background to how contemporary jewelry is taught in Europe and how since European integration students and instructors are able to move freely from country to country and the impact that has had on the field. It will be interesting to follow the influence of Iris Eichenberg’s recent move from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam to The Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and whether American jewelry will adopt the less metal-centric approach of much European work.
“From Hand to Hand” features handsome color photographs of work by all the artists and the statements are in French and English. The beautiful production of the book on acid-free sustainably sourced paper could be a model for American publications. The first 36 pages of the book are full-page black and white photographs without text of seemingly candid shots of regular people wearing art jewelry. (The photos were actually shot by students of a local art college). Although not the first publication to showcase jewelry on the human body it still feels revolutionary. This is cutting-edge work out in the real world on real people. And it looks normal. For those of us who feel we are the only ones wearing work like this, it is a fantasy come true.
From Hand to Hand: Passing on Skill and Knowledge in European Contemporary Jewellery
By Carole Guinard, Liesbeth den Besten, and Monica Gaspar
Illustrated. 144 pp. 5 Continents.
Available from Amazon