Adult Review Tags

If you are interested in gems, jewelry making and the history of jewelry as I am, you may have noticed many new titles have been added to our collection within the past few months. One of my favourites is this look at Art Nouveau jewelry. This glorious, full-colour illustrated book contains nearly eighty items featured at an exhibition first held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 2008. Jewelry by Rene Lalique, Georges Fouquet, Lucien Gaillard and others, as well as prints, paintings and decorative arts from the period provide a lush introduction to the Art Nouveau era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As well as a good overview of the jewelry and the inspirations which led to the development of this style namely nature, both flora and fauna, and the female form, the book looks at what is considered Art Nouveau, the materials and techniques used by the jewelers such as coloured enamels and smaller stones and the symbolism and motifs found in this type of jewelry. Also included are brief artist biographies, a glossary of jewelry terms and suggestions for further reading.