Friday, March 11, 2011

Cooper Hewitt Van Cleef & Arpels Jewlery Exhibit Feb 18 to June 5, 2011

If you happen to be in the city during the period of February 18th and June 5 of this year, this is a must see exhibit. Here is some information from the Cooper Hewitt website:

Van Cleef & Arpels has been an important force in high jewelry for more than one hundred years. The preeminence of design in the firm’s philosophy provides a unique opportunity to study the evolution of twentieth-century jewelry in the context of the decorative arts and other design disciplines.

Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels examines VC&A’s innovative use of materials, production methods, and interpretations of trends over a century of creativity.
Van Cleef & Arpels was founded in Paris in 1896 by brothers-in-law Alfred van Cleef and Salomon Arpels with the latter’s wife, Estelle van Cleef Arpels. Both families had long been in the diamond and colored-stone markets in the Netherlands and Belgium. Almost immediately after the new company moved into the place Vendôme in 1906, an international clientele flocked through its doors, drawn by VC&A’s creative design, avant-garde forms, and high-quality stones and settings. The recipe for making an exquisite piece of jewelry is akin to haute cuisine: masters employ special techniques to mix and adorn top-quality ingredients, creating something that is far greater than the sum of its parts. This approach permeates the essence of Van Cleef & Arpels’ jewelry.
Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels, the most comprehensive exhibition ever organized of Van Cleef & Arpels’ masterworks, is divided into six themes which resonate through the history of the firm: Innovation, both stylistic and technical; Transformations; Nature as Inspiration; Exoticism; Fashion; and Personalities. This unprecedented assembly of 350 pieces from VC&A’s collection and international private collections, augmented by never-before-seen drawings from VC&A’s design archives and by related objects from Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s permanent collection, illustrates the firm’s celebrated history and places its contributions to design in a broader context.
I will just say that this looks amazing and I would highly suggest you run, don't walk to this exhibit. Can you imagine wearing a piece of this art (jewelry) ?? That will be an image I will keep in my mind forever and you can as well. 
They also have another great exhibit coming soon titled Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay which runs from March 18th to June 5th if you are seeing the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibit, this would be another good choice as well. 
 The Cooper Hewitt is located on Museum Mile corner of East 91st Street and Fifth Avenue.
Hours are:
Mon - Fri 10am to 5pm
Sat 10am to 6pm
Sun   11am to 6pm
General Admission $15.00
Senior Citizens and Students $10.00

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2 comments

Marina Mott said...

Great post! Have a nice week end! xx

nycstylelittlecannoli said...

This exhibit is a must see for sure! You have a great weekend!!

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