It’s taken a couple unwanted delays for Cincinnati Art Museum to get Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry open, but it’s been worth the wait. The museum has done a wonderful job displaying it; Cynthia Amnéus, the museum’s associate curator of costume and textiles, has really made it look sparkling. The show, up through Jan. 17, should be a hot holiday ticket.
The exhibit, organized by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and drawn from a private collection, provides a well-organized history lesson on the turn-of-the-20th-Century Art Nouveau movement. Beginning on the balcony and flanking either side of the main entrance to the gallery are works of Art Nouveau predecessors and contemporaries.
The movement draws influence from the organic shapes of Baroque architecture, the mythological themes of the Pre-Raphaelites and the cryptic nature of the Symbolists. Art Nouveau artists also shared aesthetics with their contemporaries in the Arts and Crafts movement. They both had an appreciation for the handcrafted over the mass-produced object.
Read Selena Reder's full review and get show details here.
