Art deco jewelry : modernist masterworks and their makers /

This catalog of a 2009-10 exhibition in Paris (Musee des Arts Decoratifs) and New York (Bard Graduate Ctr.) focuses exclusively on French jewelry designers working from 1910 to 1937 in the modernist style known as art deco. Mouillefarine and Musee des Arts Decoratifs curator Posseme, who both helped conceive the exhibition, present four succinct and clear essays by French scholars that place the works in context with overall movements in the arts, decorative arts, industrial design, and graphic design; profiles of 18 individual designers (e.g., Paul Bablet, Jean Dunand) and firms (Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels) are models of popular explication and scholarship for a broad audience. The book is well and heavily illustrated with both period and new photography, although scale is sometimes hard to judge. Verdict Dealing with what is arguably a high point of 20th-century luxury design, this catalog moves beyond literature aimed at collectors to a scholarly level based on serious research. At the same time, it does not deny the popular appeal of these stunning miniature works of art.-Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Libs. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.