Jewelry has undergone an unprecedented revolution in recent decades. Personal adornment has always attracted wide interest, but since the 1960s jewelry has found fresh inspiration. Influences from other arts, the use of surprising materials and the desire to make an individual statement or even to tell a story, have all combined to create a new and exciting movement. The book has three essential elements. Firstly, an unrivalled display of the jewelry itself, making use of visually innovative special photography: hundreds of colour photographs provide a dazzling array of rich and imaginative work, as well as an unsurpassed reference document for contemporary jewelry. Secondly, an equally innovative critical history, tracing the first challenges to traditional forms of jewelry, but focusing on the inspired use of new materials, new processes, new tools and new ideas since 1960. And finally, an important reference section, including detailed biographies of over a hundred makers; an extended bibliography; and a comprehensive chronology of exhibitions and events held in public museums throughout the world. This book is an essential work of reference for collectors, artists, curators and students of twentieth-century art, craft and jewelry.
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