An introduction into art jewelry in light of current trends in contemporary fine art and society. On Jewellery offers a comprehensive overview of the trends and role of contemporary international jewelry art from the 1960s to today, shown within the context of corresponding trends in art and society. This publication is dedicated to themes such as interdisciplinary collaboration, new means of presentation and contextualization. It also incorporates photography and the relationships between jewelry and the body, jewelry and ornament and new interpretations of traditional technical skills. Furthermore it considers aspects such as terminology and strategies, positioning, prejudices and the significance of content with regard to jewelry. On this basis this publication offers a synopsis of what jewelry art is and what it can be. Its aim is to reveal the characteristics, language and potential of jewelry. A bibliography of the most important works of jewelry art, a directory of jewelry galleries, museums and educational institutions make On Jewellery a compact handbook of contemporary jewelry art.
Artists featured include Pia Aleborg, Gijs Bakker, Melanie Bielenker, Manfred Bischoff, Helen Britton, Paul Derrez, Iris Eichenberg, Warwick Freeman, Otto Künzli, Daniel Kruger, Yuka Oyama, Robert Smit, Annamaria Zanella and Christoph Zellweger.
Contents: Beyond the Showcase; Conceptual Jewellery; Jewellery and Photography; Reading Jewellery; Borderline Jewellery; Jewellery and the Body; Jewellery and Ornament; Jewellery and the Goldsmith's Skill; The Language of Jewellery; Documentation: Manifests.
Since 1985, Liesbeth den Besten has worked free lance as a writer for newspapers, art and design magazines and exhibition catalogues. She is active as an advisor and jury member for Dutch and international governmental institutions, exhibitions and competitions, and lectures about contemporary jewelry and crafts at international conferences and art academies. She is chairwoman of the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation for contemporary jewelry and one of the founding members of Think Tank, a European Initiative for the Applied Arts.