Diane Venet’s Artist Jewelry Collection On View At Norton Museum

The Norton Museum of Art is currently hosting an exhibition of jewels by important modern and contemporary artists acquired over a period of more than 30 years by Diane Venet. Artists’ Jewelry: From Cubism to Pop, the Diane Venet Collection, consists of approximately 150 art jewels that are on display at the museum in West Palm Beach until October 5.

For Venet, the exhibition represents a personal journey of her life steeped in the art world as a collector, cultural journalist and curator. Born in Paris, her parents were avid art collectors. From 1967 to 1976, she worked as a radio and television journalist, and co-hosted the successful weekly culture program, Samedi Soir, broadcast on France 2. She traveled much of the world and eventually moved to New York with her husband, Bernar Venet, an internationally known conceptual artist. She assisted in organizing his exhibitions in New York and around the world. It was Bernar that sparked her interest in jewels as works of art with personal stories.

For Venet, It Began with a Wedding Ring

“My passion for artists’ jewelry was born on the day Bernar amused himself by rolling a thin strip of silver around my left ring finger as a wedding band,” she said. “This first gesture had a far-reaching impact on me. It encouraged me to discover the scarcely known universe of such unique and precious works of art. Precious not simply due to their rarity, but also for the symbolic content that spurred their creation.”

Bernar eventually did create the wedding ring that she says is her most prized jewel. He then followed this up by creating brooches and bracelets for her.

Both she and Bernar have a large circle of friends who are among the most important artists of the 20th and 21st century. She began encouraging these friends to create unique pieces for her.

French mixed-media and poster artist, Jacques Villeglé, suggested that he and Venet make a ring together, which they did. American contemporary artist and sculptor, Larry Bell, sent her a translucent pendant. Italian artist and performer, Sheila Concari, gave her a necklace made of snakeskin.

Other artists and creators who took on the challenge were Claude Viallat, Kader Attia, Orlan, Lee Ufan, Faust Cardinali, Laurent Baude, Miguel Chevalier, Barthélémy Toguo, Pablo Reinoso, Andres Serrano and Jean-Luc Moulène.

“I was moved by each of these dear friends as they had never worked on such a small scale and therefore their gifts were such touching surprises,” she said.

Frank Stella at First Refused to Create a Jewel

One of her most prized possessions is from American painter, sculptor and printmaker, Frank Stella, a dear friend of the couple. He at first refused to create a piece saying he had no interest working in the medium. Eventually he relented and surprised her with a piece while having dinner with their spouses.

“Frank turned around, opened a drawer and pulled out, wrapped in an old page of The New York Times, a fantastic necklace made of titanium and crudely painted gold. He said, ‘This is a present for you dear Diane.’ How could this necklace not be meaningful to me.”

Stella wasn’t the only artist who had reservations about working in jewelry. Other artists who worked in all sorts of media were intimated with the prospect of working at such a small scale. Venet says this is understandable.

“The challenge for an artist to whom I ask to create a piece for my collection is the change of scale. It’s not as simple as making something in a small size in which they envision as something larger. This does not work. On the other hand, I must be able to recognize the artist’s hand and spirit. John Chamberlain (who created distinctive metal sculptures) is definitely a good example as he painted aluminum to realize a large brooch as a unique piece.”

Tracking Down Jewels by Picasso, Man Ray and Dalí

A couple years ago, Venet estimated that her collection consisted of 220 works. While many of the jewels were created by friends and acquaintances, the collection also contains jewels by prestigious modern and contemporary artists that she acquired on the market.

“The story of this collection is largely one of friendships. It is also the fruit of many journeys undertaken to track down rare pieces. It is indeed frequent that the trace of an artist’s jewel is lost. In this case I lead an investigation from encounter to encounter. My friend Maria Dimitriadis (who founded the Medusa Art Gallery in Greece) told me the story of how, 50 years ago, Takis (Greek artist Panayiotis Vassilakis) molded a piece directly on her body and turned it into a necklace. After a long search, I managed to track it down at an art fair in London.”

Other jewels in the museum exhibition that Venet was able to track down are emblematic charms by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, whimsical headpieces by Claude Lalanne and Man Ray, surreal brooches by Dorothea Tanning and Salvador Dalí, and abstract pieces by Louise Nevelson and Arnaldo Pomodoro. Other artists’ pieces in the museum exhibition are by Alexander Calder, Rashid Johnson, Yayoi Kusama, Niki de Saint Phalle and Kiki Smith. It’s a veritable “who’s who” of important artists during the past 80 years.

This is at least the 12th exhibition of Venet’s jewels around the world. However, this is the first that includes companion artworks by many of the same artists. The museum in a statement said these artworks “establish a visual dialogue between the jewelry and the paintings or sculptures made by these artists, articulating the artists’ technical range and varying sources of inspiration.”

In addition, there is a sound-based artwork created and produced by Concari that includes excerpts of Venet’s reflections on her collection.

“I am so happy to exhibit my collection at the Norton,Venet said. “The museum is rich in various media and the idea to exhibit paintings and sculptures related to the piece of jewelry of the artist is very interesting and instructive. I just love this proposition.”

Wearable Art

Venet says it’s important to remember that these are works of art that are meant to be worn. Knowing the person who created the piece and knowing that it was created specifically for her makes these art objects deeply personal.

“When I choose a piece from my collection for a special occasion, I am always extremely sensitive to its closeness to me, to this intimate relationship with art,” she said. “I may roll a Takis around my wrist or see myself reflected in an Anish Kapoor around my neck.”

She continued, “After so many years of collecting and showing in museums across the world, my dearest wish is to make sure that those miniatures are presented as works of art. Jewelry, yes for sure, in the sense that they are worn. And yes, jewelry, as they embellish and enrich culturally the woman who decides to wear art and be for a moment the torchbearer of the artist she chooses.”

The exhibition, Artists’ Jewelry: From Cubism to Pop, the Diane Venet Collection, is on view until October 5 at the Norton Museum of Art.