Author Archives: Gloria Lieberman

Last week, Karen Keane and I met designer and fashion icon Zandra Rhodes for the first time at a lovely opening reception for the exhibit  Zandra Rhodes: A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop by – the show is on display until December 1, 2012.

With her bright pink hair and bold, hand-painted garments, Zandra is impossible to ignore and has exerted her influence on the textile and clothing design world since the 1960s.… Read More

Joan Sonnabend opened her tiny gallery at the Plaza Hotel in New York in 1973. She started with a one hundred piece collection of “sculpture to wear.” Included among the pins, necklaces, bracelets, and rings were works by such artists as Man Ray, Pol Bury, Picasso, Arp, and Calder. After Sculpture to Wear opened, many artists sought out Sonnabend, hoping to create items for the gallery. She became friendly with many of them, and maintained these relationships for many years.

Eye miniatures, commonly known as “lover’s eyes” are miniature hand-painted human eyes set into jewelry. The tradition started with royalty, when the Prince of Wales and his mistress Maria Fitzherbert, exchanged miniature paintings of their own eyes in 1785. The fad spread through Europe around 1800; people gave eyes to lovers, family, or even friends.

Who would’ve thought that one day we would have a jewelry gallery and a jewelry curator at the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston? I never would have predicted this 31 years ago when I started the Skinner Fine Jewelry Department, but it’s clear to me now that people have been craving exhibits devoted to jewelry and fashion all along. Our previews, in fact, serve much the same purpose. And, just look at the success of the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York — 661,509 people went to see the famous designer’s work in just three months!

Each glass pendant hangs suspended, reflecting light with its own unique glints of silver and gold. This is the Solar-Lunar Cosmos series of modernist necklaces, created by Margret Craver, a pioneer in the American Studio Jewelry movement. On June 14, 2011, Skinner will bring Margret Craver’s work to auction for the first time. Her fabulous handmade jewelry pieces range from expert silverwork to notoriously difficult en resille enameling, and her work is featured in numerous museum collections. The Solar-Lunar series from the 1970s is an example of an experiment in glasswork.

Have you ever heard of Margret Craver? This amazing silversmith and master jeweler lived to 103, but many people do not even know her name. Although several museums exhibit examples of her early modernist jewelry, her work has never sold at auction… until now.