Show of rare artistry captures golden moments in full flight
After touring the world, a new exhibition for Van Cleef & Arpels in Australia explores jewellery’s intersection with fashion, movement and history.
How to capture a sense of movement? It’s a question that has occupied Van Cleef & Arpels since the French jeweller’s beginnings in 1906.
Its explorations can be found in some of Van Cleef & Arpels’ most famous creations such as its Ballerina clips, which debuted in 1941 – dancers expressing grace and weightlessness in precious gemstones – and the Zip necklace in 1950, inspired by the daring of fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s exposed zipper collection in 1935.
Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor (“that woman” as she was often referred, and one of undeniably exceptional taste) was said to have challenged the maison to create the necklace.
She wanted a necklace that not only looked like a zipper but also worked as one, with its interlocking gold teeth able to be transformed into a bracelet. That sense of movement also can be found in the maison’s exploration of nature – so ephemeral and ever-changing – with bejewelled flowers that look as if in bloom, or leaves fluttering in a breeze.
Such studies will be displayed in Sydney from this week as part of Van Cleef & Arpels’ exhibition The Art of Movement. Broken into four chapters, the exhibition is the first of its kind for the jeweller in Australia and will feature more than 100 creations from its patrimonial collection and nearly 50 archival documents, gouaches (paintings) and design drawings.
The program will also include an element for children with workshops run by Australian paper engineer and artist Benja Harney and conversations with the jeweller’s L’Ecole jewellery schools (there is one in Paris and another in Hong Kong). The exhibition previously has been shown in China and London’s Design Museum.
Van Cleef & Arpels director of heritage and exhibitions Alexandrine Maviel-Sonet says vitality of movement and creation is important to the maison.
“Nothing is static,” she says. “It’s always very lively. And I think (visitors to the exhibition) will see that in the creations and they will understand how particular it is.”
Maviel-Sonet says exhibitions such as this – as well as the L’Ecole jewellery schools – are not only ways to transmit know-how but also to show how jewellery has long intersected with art, fashion, culture and changing tastes.
“We have almost 3000 pieces (in the patrimonial collection), and it helps us in creating relationships with the history, also with the art movement,” she says. “And by looking at the pieces from the 1920s and looking at the art pieces from the 1920s, the paintings or sculptures, and then we see there is a relationship between them … as well as the pieces from the 60s, the 70s – long necklaces, very bold colours with amethyst, turquoise, coral, lots of contrast. It’s very interesting to analyse jewellery making in a larger context.
“And when you look at what the art scene was at the time, and then you say, ‘Oh, of course there is a link between our jewellery creations and the art scene.’ The jewellery pieces are amazingly matching the spirit of that time.”
Another example of jewellery’s intersection with history is the maison’s 1946 Cord necklace – twists of gold rope and tassels – which came to be initially as part of the famed Theatre de la Mode (Theatre of Fashion) exhibition in 1945-46. That exhibition brought together top fashion designers to create doll-sized designs to be shown around the world as a symbol of optimism and Parisian couture prowess post World War II.
“It was a kind of promotion of the Paris couture,” Maviel-Sonet says of the travelling exhibition. “A designer asked the maison to do a cord for a dress. And then we found out that two years later a cord collection was made by the maison … and obviously the creation came from the couture and this dress in particular, and then it became a jewellery collection.”
Another highlight is one of her team’s newest acquisitions for the patrimonial collections- a bird clip from 1945, crafted in diamonds, sapphires and yellow gold. “The movement of the bird is quite amazing … the bird is swirling (as) if it was diving in the air,” Maviel-Sonet says.
Seeing jewellery as an art form and showing the hours of painstaking work and craftsmanship that go into such creations – about 600 hours for a Zip necklace – is important to Maviel-Sonet.
“Jewellery is not always considered as part of the creative arts but it is definitely part of the creative arts and art in general. So I think it’s very important to highlight that,” she says.
Van Cleef & Arpels president of Asia Pacific Julie Clody-Medina says the exhibition marks a significant moment for the maison in the region and is testament to the jeweller’s growth in this market. In Australia Van Cleef & Arpels has recently expanded its boutiques beyond Melbourne and Sydney with a new boutique in Perth.
Parent company Richemont reported third quarter sales up 10 per cent at constant exchange rates. While it doesn’t break out individual brands’ results – the group also includes the likes of Cartier and Piaget – Van Cleef & Arpels has enjoyed significant success thanks in part to renewed resonance of its four-leaf clover inspired design, the Alhambra.
HSBC global head of consumer and retail equity research Erwan Rambourg recently told the Financial Times in London the jeweller is “clearly gaining significant share internally within the group but also relative to peers”.
Clody-Medina says exhibitions such as this are a major – and meaningful – expression of the brand.
“We do not measure success solely by numbers but rather by the emotional resonance and curiosity sparked in those who attend,” she says. “If a visitor leaves the exhibition with a deeper appreciation for the craftsmanship behind a creation, a new understanding of the jewellery-making process, or simply a sense of wonder – that, to us, is a success.”
The Art of Movement is on at Watersedge at Campbell’s Stores, 25 Hickson Road, The Rocks, Sydney from April 11 to May 8. Free entry. vancleefarpels.com
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