Artistic Luxury: Fabergé — Tiffany — Lalique
Cleveland Museum of Art October 2008 — January 2009
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco February 2009 — May 2009
This opulent exhibition, organized with co-curators Stephen Harrison and Emmanuel Ducamp, featured the greatest masterworks of Peter Carl Fabergé in Russia, Louis Comfort Tiffany in the United States, and René Lalique in France, many of them reunited for the first time since the legendary 1900 International World’s Fair in Paris.
Artistic Luxury offered a glimpse—through the stunning creations of these three great artists at the peak of their powers and engaged in a spirited rivalry—of the rich and famous during the years leading up to the First World War. Each designer was known for his own characteristic style and achievement, and the exhibition devoted a separate gallery to each jeweler, with a luxurious installation design that recreated the ambiance of the Paris World's Fair.
Palm trees, mannequins draped in jewels, and swags of drapery filled a hothouse interior that featured some of the most extravagant objects imaginable.
Artistic Luxury: Fabergé — Tiffany — Lalique
Exhibition Catalogue
A sumptuous volume that tells the story of how three iconic designers in prewar Europe created and marketed jewelry as art. Four essays discuss these masters in the context of their times, illuminated the high societies they served, and traced the cultural trends behind their extraordinary creations. A trove of period photographs documents their lavish displays at the World's Fair along with the glitterati who wore their jewelry and purchased their extravagant works for their mansions. Many of these objects are expressions of Art Nouveau, while others draw upon Viennese modernism, symbolism, and of styles from around the world. New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Cloth and soft-cover, 372 pages, 9 5/8 x 10 ½ in.; 76 b/w + 408 color illus. ISBN: 9780300142242
Lectures & Workshops
A Tale of Two Tiffanys, Cleveland Museum of Art, December 13, 2008; Baltimore Museum of Art, February 10, 2009
Louis Comfort Tiffany, His Life and Jewelry, Symposium, Ahead of Its Time, Artistic Jewelry in the Milieu of 1900, Association for the Study of Jewelry and Related Arts, October 12, 2008