Jewelry Lovers

The most sophisticated and chic Art Deco jewelry of the period was made in France, using combinations of materials such as coral and jade, and Japanese-inspired black enamel and marcasite. The most outstanding of the French artist-jewelers included Georges Fouquet, Raymond Templier, Gerard Sandoz, Jean Despres and Jean Dunand. There were also a number of excellent copyists who took up the modern fashion.

Another French offshoot of the Art Deco style was a vogue for the “barbaric”, inspired by the work of ancient goldsmiths. Designs in the barbaric style featured Islamic and Near Eastern patterns and mosaics. The Paris dancer, Josephine Baker, and society woman, Nancy Cunard, were the principal promoters of this style, wearing wide, plastic and lacquered bangles by Jean Dunand.

Compared with the French, English taste of the period was conservative. Jane Mulvagh in Costume Jewelry in Vogue said, ‘Englishwomen of the twenties . . . who could afford such ornaments preferred something small but good — a string of pearls and possibly a regimental brooch in diamonds.’ This taste for restraint was reflected in the comparatively delicate Art Deco designs of British jewelers working at the time. Even by this late stage, the Arts and Crafts influence was still apparent in the detailed, often floral settings of designers such as Sybil Dunlop and Carrie Francis. They specialized in decorative chains in silver, incorporating semi-precious stones such as moonstone, amethysts and topaz. Sybil Dunlop had been making jewelry since 1900. Much of her work was inspired by Celtic and Renaissance enamelwork. She favoured the use of moonstones and fire opals set within a wirework frame.

In America, the only near equivalent to the Art Deco artist-jewelers working in France and Britain were the anonymous designers who made pieces for the top of the Tiffany range. Otherwise in America the growth of Art Deco jewelry was inextricably linked to the boom in mass-produced costume pieces.

The first modern style to have a significant impact on European and American design was Art Deco, which had its origins in the French decorative arts of the 1920s.

Art Deco was to become a ‘popular hallmark’ in all aspects of design, particularly during the 1930s. Art Deco originates from the last traces of Art Nouveau, although it is much simpler in its effect and emphasizes the harmony of the interior.

There were numerous factors that influenced the impact of Art Deco, including the bright colours of the Ballet Russes, the formalist qualities of abstraction discovered by the Cubists and the impact of the decorative arts in general.

Numerous exhibitions contributed towards the general dissemination of the Art Deco style, especially the Paris International Exhibition of 1925. By the end of the decade, Art Deco had developed from a mixture of different elements. It was an ‘assertively modern style‘, characterized by bold geometric and stylized patterns and representations of luxury, although it aimed to adapt designs to the requirements of mass production.

In England, Art Deco is characterized by the use of motifs like the sunburst, greyhound and pyramid-stepped forms that adorned every new building, domestic interior and the jewelry that was worn. In America, this decorative ‘zigzag’ style was associated with the riches and glamour of Hollywood and highlighted the need at that time to escape from the banality and poverty of the Depression during the thirties.

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