Kevin Coates: A Hidden Alchemy - Goldsmithing: Jewels and Tablepieces - Hardcover

E. Goring; H. Clifford; N. Romano; F. Carli

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3897902842 ISBN 13: 9783897902848

Publisher: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt, 2008

Synopsis

Hidden Alchemy is the first comprehensive publication on the work of Kevin Coates. Known to many as Britain's 'archimagus' of goldsmithing, he has created tableware and art jewellery for almost four decades, working as far out of the limelight as possible

About this title

From the Publisher:

Be they Mozart, Italian commedia dell'arte, Shakespeare, Greek mythology or the axioms and theorems of geometry - the sources the British goldsmith Kevin Coates draws on are so diverse that it is no wonder he is often dubbed the `British Leonardo' in the UK press. At a far remove from all short-lived fashion trends, he has been employing consummate artistry to create art jewellery and tableware of superlative quality for nearly four decades, using a wealth of different materials. Gold and precious stones, it goes without saying, are favourite materials but he also works with glass, eggshells and even feathers. Pieces by Kevin Coates are owned by major public and private collections worldwide and are featured at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the UK prime minister. ARNOLDSCHE Art Publishers have just released the first comprehensive study of Kevin Coates and his work in their series of distinguished monographs.

Sumptuous colour photographs in large formats convey a visual impression of Coates's stunning technical skills and his sensitivity to detail while jewellery experts Elizabeth Goring and Helen Clifford provide a thoroughly grounded introduction to Coates's jewellery and tableware in scholarly essays. Nel Romano, Kevin Coates's wife, reveals an entirely personal approach to the artist's work and working methods in her essay on the Birthday Jewels - pieces of jewellery made for her birthdays, which by now form a series. Kevin Coates himself has contributed a text on the geometry underlying his works - a field which fascinated him even before he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the use of mathematics and geometry in musical instrument design. A trained musician, Kevin Coates is also entertaining on his special relationship with Mozart and how this is distilled into such works as Die Zauberflöte oder Wolfgang's Starling. His series Fragments, An Alphabet of Rings and A Notebook of Pins are also extensively covered in the monograph, which includes a complete illustrated and annotated catalogue of works.

The first comprehensive survey of this extraordinary goldsmith's unique work. Dazzling illustrations in large formats of selected objects, knowledgeable and highly readable essays by experts on jewellery as well as a complete annotated and illustrated catalogue of works make this new publication from the ARNOLDSCHE art jewellery series a must for all lovers of auteur jewellery and tableware.

Review:

The beautiful book `A Hidden Alchemy' maps the journey of artist craftsman Kevin Coates through a life of craftsmanship, music, geometry, literature and philosophy. His work has influenced a generation through his exhibitions and teaching at the Royal College of Art. Roy Strong, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, explains in the book's introduction that one of the delights of working at the V&A was the discovery of the renaissance in the world of Applied Arts in Great Britain. "I cannot tell you the excitement of meeting contemporary creators, of being either to exhibit or acquire works by them for the collection. Kevin Coates was a man whose work fascinated me for its complexity, astonishing technical virtuosity, sophistication of allusion, and unashamed richness of a kind which would have delighted a Medici Grand Duke," Strong writes. "I am fortunate enough to have and wear one of Kevin's jewels, a lapel brooch made by him in memory of my late wife, the designer Julia Trevelyan Oman. So I have the knowledge and experience of living with a jewel which has power and presence and in a sense a life of its own. It is recondite, meant to be read by the initiated but a closed book to ignorant eyes," Strong continues. The book opens our eyes to the cornerstones of Coates' philosophies, his love of music and the influence of Mozart. The `Mozart Jewels' chapter replicates a lecture given by Coates at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, explaining his interaction with the opera The Magic Flute. An interview, with Francoise Carli on the Lido Beach, Venice, called Fragments: Pages stolen from a book of Time, investigates his use of found objects from the Lido Beach which include fragments of household china and 16th and 17th century shards of maiolica (fine earthenware with coloured decorated on an opaque white tin glaze), washed up from the lagoon where they were dumped as sea-defence ballast long ago. A Hidden Alchemy, sumptuously bound and produced with a full complement of illustrations of Coates' work, is a superb insight into the mind of a great artist craftsman. -- The Goldsmith Magazine, No. 318, July 2008

Something of a precious object itself, with its heavy glossy pages, this monograph celebrates Coates's entire oeuvre, some 425 pieces from 1973 to the present. ... With its illustrated catalogue raisonné, this elegant volume is a definitive reference on a singular artist. --American Craft, Vol. 68, No. 5, October/November 2008

About this edition

• Publisher: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 3897902842
• ISBN 13: 9783897902848
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 316