The New Jewelry: Trends+Traditions

Jewellery has come alive again. 20 years ago a mere handful of designers in Europe and America were fighting the cliches of conventional design. Today there has been, in Ralph Turner's words, a "burgeoning of many kinds of ornament". Comprehensively revised and updated to incorporate the challenging work of the late 1980s and the 1990s, this book now presents in three sections the very latest examples of contemporary inventiveness. Mainstream abstract jewellery encompasses the diversity of modern ornament; whilst contemporary figurative jewellery is made by artists who sculpt and model in precious metals or everyday materials; and today's "jewellery as theatre" features radical workers and their controversial "wearables". Recent trends are given a special section of their own.

Dormer and Turner have produced an exciting volume on recent developments in the art and craft of jewelry making. Through the abundant illustrations of excellent examples of jewelry as ornament, as fashion, as sculpture, and as assemblage, the reader can see many of the distinctive and unique trends of a truly international style. A ``no-holds-barred'' attitude is reflected in each of the three chapters on expression and design, jewelry as image, and jewelry as theater. Included are brief biographical sketches of major international jewelry makers and lists of galleries and museums specializing in jewelry exhibitions, major exhibitions since 1960, and important publications. Enthusiastically recommended. Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.