This year, as a tribute to the one hundredth anniversary of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris, GemGenève will be devoting a special exhibition to an unparalleled artistic style : Art Deco. Seen as one of the most creative periods in the history of twentieth-century jewellery, Art Deco is a style spanning multiple disciplines ranging from jewellery to architecture via furniture and interior design, pure art, and even fashion.
Yellow gold bag watch with red enamel set with diamonds, 1929 Paris, Chaumet Collections © Pauline Guyon | Rectangular cigarette case in yello gold and red/black enamel, 1923 Paris, Chaumet Collections © Pauline Guyon
Arts & Jewellery
Curated by GemGenève Director Mathieu Dekeukelaire, the exhibition explores every facet of a movement encompassing every aspect of arts and crafts. Almost one hundred pieces will be on display : jewels, haute-couture garments, sculptures and furniture whose daring and modernity had a powerful influence on the jewellers of the previous century. Designed as a dialogue between jewellers, dress-makers, sculptors, stylists and artists, this journey back in time will be one of the highlights of the ninth edition.
The highly detailed band designed as the New York City cityscape, depicting the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Chrysler Building, with baguette, single and rose-cut diamonds weighing approximately 40 carats, with calibre-cut onyx, ruby and mother-of-pearl accents, including details such as an ocean liner, a sailboat, 1930’s automobiles, and a blimp, mounted in platinum, with French assay marks, the reverse of the clasp engraved “New York” on one side, the other side pierced with a motif of the Brooklyn Bridge, signed Ghiso, Paris, circa 1930. Faerber Collection
The exhibition brings together a large number of jewels from a range of private and institutional collections. Several exhibitors have contributed to this inspiring undertaking, loaning some of their finest pieces for the occasion.
Project partners include exhibitors and institutions such as the Geneva Museum of Art and History, the International Museum of Horology (La Chauxde-fonds), Chaumet, Ernst Färber, Faerber Collection, G. Torroni SA, Horovitz & Totah, Humphrey Butler Ltd, Morelle Davidson, N. Torroni, Paul Fisher Inc. and the heritage collection of Golay Fils and Stahl, to name but a few.
An Art Deco spherical 18K white gold lady’s chatelaine watch decorated with 26 diamonds, the sliding cover opening to reveal the silvered dial with black Arabic and baton numerals, signed Golay Fils & Stahl Genève. Inner case N° 6775. Keyless lever movement signed Supra. Diameter 1.9 cm, length 4.2 cm. Circa 1920-1940
Convertible jewellery
If the Victorian and Edwardian eras were the golden age of convertible jewellery, these hybrid pieces also staged a remarkable comeback during the 1920s and 30s with the advent of the Art Deco style. A single convertible jewel can be worn in more than one way: lapel clips, originally worn on their own, can be grouped together to form a brooch; sautoirs can turn into bracelets or chokers; even diadems can become necklaces. This inventiveness gave birth to particularly sophisticated pieces.
Art Deco jewellery embodies the greatest outpouring of creativity in the history of jewelsmithing. It was in many ways “a period of social liberation for those wearing the jewels as well as a time of technological innovation”, explains Robert Leigh-Pemberton from London-based dealers Humphrey Butler Ltd, who will be taking part in the forthcoming edition of the exhibition. From 1910 onwards, the possibilities opened up by the use of platinum in design and manufacture and the corresponding fields of artistic exploration became virtually limitless.
An 18K yellow gold Art Deco pocket watch convertible into a desk timepiece. Red enamel with a bird of paradise in shades of blue cloisonné on a black and gilt floral background with green enamel surround. The gilt dial with black Arabic numerals, subsidiary seconds, signed Golay Fils & Stahl Genève, red enamel surround, green, black and yellow cloisonné enamel floral decoration above 12. Black enamel pendant. Hinged openwork scroll decorated stand set into the band. Inner case signed Fabrique Golay Fils & Stahl Genève, N° 35946. Keyless lever movement. Diameter 4.5 cm. Circa 1927.
Is there more than one Art Deco style ?
One particularity of Art Deco is that it’s an exceptionally long period, stretching from 1910 to the late 1930s; in actual fact there were a number of influences in play during this time. Egyptomania was a major influence on Art Deco jewellery in the wake of the rediscovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922; Asia was to play a significant role, too. In other words, there are multiple Art Deco styles; it was a prolific and extremely rich period, and that goes a long way to explaining why one never tires of these jewels.
A style ‘made in France’ ?
Paris is of course the cradle of Art Deco; Parisian jewelsmiths produced a huge number of pieces during this period, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that Geneva played a significant role too. Many Swiss artists (including Geneva-based Jean Dunand, a multidisciplinary artist who has come to be seen as one of the leading figures in Art Deco) played their part in expanding the style’s influence further afield.
Avant-garde materials
Several materials are inextricably interwoven with the Art Deco style, including platinum and lacquer. First introduced to Europe by Japanese artists, the new technique of lacquering made major inroads into jewellery in the 1920s. Other unusual materials such as ebony from Africa also aroused the interest of jewellers during this period.
