Simply Brilliant
Simply put, jewelry of the 1960s and 1970s was revolutionary. If the 1950s were demure and controlled, the 1960s became an era of youthful rebellion and radical cultural change – and a new style of jewelry was part of that zeitgeist.
Rock and roll, the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassinations, the civil rights and women’s movements, the widespread use of hallucinogenic drugs and the concept of free love are all associated with these tumultuous decades.
From space-age plastic hoop earrings to the hippies’ beaded necklaces, jewelry expressed individuality, nonconformity and the aesthetic, political, and intellectual values of the person who wore it.
They worked in gold, focusing on organic forms, favoring abstract shapes and concepts related to space-age trends. They incorporated unconventional materials and were unrivaled in the texture and scale they brought to their designs.
Beyond these expressions in inexpensive costume jewelry that was available to all, fine jewelry took an equal turn to incorporate the mood of the times. Young jewelry designers no longer wanted simply to create demure baubles that accessorized current fashions.
They thought of themselves as artists first and jewelrs second, approaching their work as any painter or sculptor. They worked in gold, focusing on organic forms, favoring abstract shapes and concepts related to space-age trends. They incorporated unconventional materials and were unrivaled in the texture and scale they brought to their designs.
Young jewelry designers no longer wanted simply to create demure baubles that accessorized current fashions. They thought of themselves as artists first and jewelrs second, approaching their work as any painter or sculptor.
Brooch
Gold, tourmaline, diamonds
Andrew Grima (1921-2007)
Italy/England, 1969
Courtesy of the Cincinnati Art Museum
Kimberly Klosterman Collection
Photography by Tony Walsh
Drawn from one of the most important private collections in the world, assembled by local Cincinnatian Kimberly Klosterman, this exhibition features the work of an international set of independent jewelrs as well as major houses as Cartier or Van Cleef & Arpels.
The jewelry designers and makers of the ’60s and ’70s were uncompromising in their vision. They took jewelry to a new level of artistry that paralleled the radical changes in society during these decades.
From space-age plastic hoop earrings to the hippies’ beaded necklaces, jewelry expressed individuality, nonconformity and the aesthetic, political, and intellectual values of the person who wore it.
