Decadence and Dreams - Jewellery from around 1900
17 February 2027 at 11:00:00
Winston Churchill Hall, Ruislip
Arts and Crafts Brooch designed by May Morris
The decades around 1900 witnessed a dazzling variety of styles and produced some of the most elegant pieces of jewellery ever made. Diamonds and pearls - the mainstay of European court jewellery - were arranged in garlands and ribbon bows of incredible delicacy. At the same time the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau challenged traditions of symmetry, and the ‘one colour theory’ long practised in European jewellery was overtaken by a fascination with unusual gemstones and a luxuriant sense of colour.
This lecture explores the distinctive styles of great jewellers such as Cartier, Fabergé, Tiffany and Lalique, and examines too the contrasting aesthetic of Britain’s Arts and Crafts Movement with its celebration of traditional craftsmanship, unfaceted stones and hand-beaten metals.
Clare Phillips (MA Royal College of Art) has been a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1989. As a jewellery historian, she is a key part of the small team dedicated to the V&A’s jewellery collection. She has written extensively on jewellery, from Jewels & Jewellery, the definitive account of the V&A’s collection, and Jewelry - from Antiquity to the Present, Thames & Hudson’s accessible introductory text, to definitive works on the jewellery of Tiffany for Yale University Press and on Chaumet's tiaras for Thames & Hudson.
In 2006 she curated the exhibition Bejewelled by Tiffany at Somerset House. In addition to her work with the V&A's permanent collection, she has been responsible for jewellery content within major V&A exhibitions, including - amongst many others - Art Nouveau: 1890-1914 and Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up.
Clare Phillips