the inside spot for art buzz & events

WW Gems and Brooches at Neue

Weiner Werkstatte Jewelry

Neue Galerie Museum for German and Austrian Art

1048 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028

March 27, 2008 - September 1, 2008

The decadent Neue Galerie's exhibition room featured black velvet lined vitrines safe-guarding silver and gemmed Wiener Werkstätte jewelry. The semi-dramatic room was dim and the large windows were covered by large photographs of early 20^th century women in flowing dresses draped in the period's jewelry.

Formed in 1903, The Wiener Werkstätte was a continuation of the Viennese Secession, heavily influenced by the use of natural materials of the Arts and Craft movement and Japonisme design. Co-founded by Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, and fashion designer Emilie Flöge, the group made everything from furniture to clothinga and painting (together with Gustave Klimt) that often incorporated architecture and resulted in a sort of domestic Gesamtkunstwerk (total work). As industry sped up the assembly line, their aim was to keep making superb design, only possible through a select market. Their most noted jewelry pieces were brooches with semi-precious gems chosen for their beauty instead of value. Often the geometric composition was set within a two inch square where design and gems flowed organically, decorated with tiny leaves and curvilinear lines.

Single pieces loaded with gems defy ostentation -- including one multi-hued brooch with silver, agate, amethyst, bloodstone, coral, jasper, lapis lazuli, moonstone, opal, and tourmaline. Highlights included a brooch with over ten different types of small oval blue gems, and a silver necklace featuring a cluster of slivered peapod shapes loosely hung vertically between circular swirling shapes. The work was exquisite in its delicate and natural forms, brought out by the velvet and dramatically designed room. It might be an interesting experiment to experience the jewelry in a more natural setting, with more accessibility. A good place to start would be with the knockoffs in the gift shop.