Jewelry Lovers

In the past, the jewelry trade had usually lagged behind the fashion industry by as much as 10 or 15 years. However, this time lag had begun decreasing with the introduction of mass-produced jewelry in the twenties and thirties, and by the end of the Second World War the jewelry trade was able to respond quickly to changing fashions.

Established houses such as Boucheron, Van Cleef and Arpels, Lacloche and Cartier, continued to thrive in the immediate postwar years. The American jewelers and New York branches of Parisian houses such as Paul Flato, Vedura and Traebert and Hoeffer flourished too, because they had not been directly involved in the traumas of occupied Europe.

This was a period when costume jewelers felt free to experiment with base metals, silver gilt and paste, and when the artist- jeweler came back into prominence.

Jewelry Design

During the drab years of austerity that followed the war, jewelry design continued to develop, despite the economic difficulties. The streamlined and geometric lines of Art Deco design gave way to softer, more voluptuous shapes. Jewelry from the late forties was extremely colourful, in sharp contrast to the monotony of the ‘utility’ designs produced during the war.

Forties jewelry is characterized by its chunkiness and use of contrast. The fashion was nicknamed ‘cocktail style’ and it contained a mixture of elements, formal and informal, natural and unnatural, ’stiff and fluid (outlines), static yet full of movement’. The interest in machinery which was widespread at the time, with the rapid growth in industrial production, is reflected in the jewelry designs.

The chunkiness of forties work is indicative of the desire at this period to exude wealth despite the fact that most people did not have the financial resources to buy fine jewelry. In consequence limited quantities of gold would be carefully wrought in order to give the illusion of being larger than they really were.

Figurative forms were popular, set against large expanses of metals in exotic colours such as rose pink. This was a much more fluid style than Art Deco, with pleats and drapes simulating the folds of a piece of fabric.

There were also flower sprays made with invisible settings in which small-cut rubies and sapphires were placed. There were a number of experiments made during this period with unusual motifs such as clowns, ballerinas and wild cats. Cartier helped build up the taste for exotic fauna, in particular the wild cats designed by Jeanne Toussaint. These animals became the ‘luxurious but poignant symbols of the Duchess of Windsor’ and were perfected by Cartier during the forties and fifties.

Fine Art Jewelry

Many fine artists continued to see jewelry making as an important element in their work. They continued the move to discover imaginative and creative forms, to which the intrinsic value of the materials used was subordinate. Unlike the specialist jewelry houses they did not always lay great store by technical perfection. An exception in this was the Italian artist, Gio Pomodoro, who took great care in working his materials. He combined decorativeness with function in a highly successful way. His brother, Arnaldo, worked with him. Another important Italian contribution to jewelry design was the work of Bruno Martinazzi. Martinazzi experimented with the layering effects of gold, with a strong emphasis on texture.

Other painters and sculptors who took an interest in jewelry included Braque, Tanguy, Man Ray, Dali, Dubuffet, Picasso, Fontana, Giacometti and Alexander Calder.

The Surrealists produced many amusing brooches in zoomorphic and anthropomorphic forms. Dali said of his work:

‘My jewels are a protest against the high cost of jewelry materials. My aim is to show the jeweler’s art in its true perspective — where the design and craftsmanship are of more value than the gems.’

Even Georges Braque continued to design jewelry during this period. He translated many of the principles of his paintings into three-dimensional precious forms which brought out ‘the metaphysical and magical aspects’ of the material.

One of the seminal artist-jewelers in America at this period was Margaret de Patta. She had attended the Bauhaus summer school in Chicago in 1940 and was influenced by its ideas. She specialized in finding new catches and earring fittings, and in the exciting use of new materials. She used stainless steel and plastic in her work and began producing prototypes for manufacture in 1946, because she could not keep pace with the demand for her work. It was in keeping with her social views to create cheaper pieces that would be widely affordable.

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