Saturday, June 22, 2013

Bijoux Parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris


This isn't my favorite type of exhibit, but variety is the spice of life. Bijoux Parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris is the current major exhibit at the Dixon. The Dixon site says,
The exhibition tells the dazzling story of French jewelry from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries and draws from the extensive collection of fine jewelry, drawings, paintings, and fashion prints from the Petit Palais in Paris, one of the great art museums of France. Bijoux parisiens features nearly seventy works of jewelry and over 200 design paintings, fashion prints, and photographs, tracing changing styles from the Neoclassicism of the Napoleonic era, through the Art Deco.

Rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and emeralds sparkle in brooches, necklaces, and earrings, but also in elegant paintings of jewelry design. The exhibition fuses fashion, art, and history through beautiful suites of objects. Bijoux parisiens illustrates the exhibitions, events, and influences that helped establish the great Parisian maisons that are household names today.
My favorite is a rather plain piece, a c. 1871 brooch by Auguste (1818-1900) and Joseph (1828-1897) Fanniere. Bouquet of Rushes was exhibited in the 1878 World's Fair. I can't find a picture of it online anywhere.

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