The current publication presents for the first time approaches and developments of contemporary auteur jewellery from the 1970s to the present, based on fascinating examples from the Bollmann collection in Austria. Impressively it shows how art jewellery can stand on its own but also the startling effects which can unfold in the interaction with the wearers and their own individual voice.
Ever since the 1970s the Austrian couple Heidi and Karl Bollmann have been assembling a highly respected collection of international art jewellery. In this survey exciting artistic approaches as well as trends and developments of the genre are brought before our very eyes with the aid of selected works.
The illustrations of the objects are complemented by a series of portraits, for it is only when worn by man that the pieces unfold their performative potential – and a subtle dialogue with the individual develops. Moreover, each piece is accompanied by a definition by the collector or the person who is being portrayed as to what jewellery is or could be, thereby stimulating thought about the meaning of art jewellery for the individual as well as for society as a whole.
A particular focus lies in the work of the Austrian Fritz Maierhofer (born 1941), who began his career in London in the early 1970s and today is one of the most significant jewellery artists in the world. The publication presents a series of selected pieces from the last five years in which Maierhofer’s individual artistic work comes alive in his impressive range of works.