Early 20th Century Art Jewelry and the Work of Victoria Lansford
by Elyse Zorn Karlin
Russian filigree, hinged bracelet, 2005; 22k gold, sterling silver, fine silver, Koroit opals; 2 x 2.75 x 2.25 in; Private collection
Victoria Lansford is a multi-talented artist. She creates beautiful jewelry, makes impressive repoussé objects, and is an illustrator as well. She is accomplished in all of these areas in addition to being an important educator. That explains why her work resonates with me. My areas of specialty in jewelry history are the Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts movements, and Victoria’s work relates to these movements. Although she cites Russian filigree and Eastern repoussé as her design inspiration, I see the relationship of her work to both the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements, albeit with her modern spin.
Granulation and Russian filigree ring, 2015; 22k and 18k gold, sterling, fine silver, holly blue agate;
1 x 0.875 x 1.375 in; Private collection; Photo: Pat Vasquez-Cunningham
In addition to the design relationship of her jewelry with these two movements, there is also the aspect of her working in multiple mediums as did the artists working in art movements at the turn of the nineteenth century into the twentieth. Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts metalworkers, working in Great Britain, Europe, and the United States, are known for being multi-talented. Many were jewelers, metalworkers, painters, illustrators and more and excelled at all pursuits, as Victoria does. A number of these artists began their careers in architecture, and there are architectonic constructions in some of Victoria’s work, especially in some of her rings. Victoria’s Observatory Ring and Eye on the Kingdom rings are excellent examples of her architectural style. They bring to mind the famous ring by British designer Charles de Sousy Ricketts (1866-1931), who was both a set designer for the theater and a jeweler. His Sabbatai ring, now residing in the collection of the Fitzwillam Museum in Cambridge, England, was designed in 1904 for the poet Katherine Bradley. The ring looks like a Byzantine Church with a sapphire and has a loose emerald inside and ambergris (used as a fixative in perfume) to appeal to both the sense of hearing and smell. It is said that Katherine wore it on a black cord and even wrote a poem about it called “On Beholding A Ring Set with A Star Sapphire.” Victoria’s Rosette II ring is reminiscent of this ring.
Collection of The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago; Image courtesy of Tadema Gallery, London
Photo by Pat Vasquez-Cunningham
Several British Arts & Crafts designers featured filigree work in their jewelry. In England the prolific artist George Hunt (1892-1960) was known for his filigree work. In Scotland, Mary Thew (1876-1953) featured filigree in her work as well. In America the famed designer Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is known for some of his filigree work. In the exhibition I curated Maker and Muse: Women and 20th Century Jewelry at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum, we exhibited a filigree necklace by Tiffany. We paired it with a wonderful Tiffany lamp with similar filigree work. Tiffany, who was a world traveler, may have been influenced by filigree work he saw in several parts of the world, as Victoria has been. Victoria’s filigree work builds upon the simpler filigree exhibited in Hunt, Thew and Tiffany’s work to create more complex pieces. Filigree is an element for these earlier artists but becomes the focal point in Victoria’s jewels.
Collection of The Richard H. Driehaus Museum; Photo by John A. Faier, 2014;
Image courtesy of The Richard H. Driehaus Museum
Photo by Pat Vasquez-Cunningham
Many English and American Arts & Crafts metalworkers created repoussé copper objects as well as adornments. Looking at Victoria’s incredible fish room divider created for a private yacht, I immediately thought of the work of John Pearson (1859-1930) and the Newlyn Industrial class. Pearson and his students were known for repoussé work with motifs from the sea including dolphins, fish, sea shells, squids, and galleons. Pearson served as the instructor for the class that was founded in the fishing village of Newlyn in Cornwall, England to create work for fishermen during the months that it was too cold for fishing.
Photo by Pat Vasquez-Cunningham
In the United States, we find many examples of artisans executing repoussé jewelry and objects. In Chicago, the Kalo Shop (1900-1970) was known for its extensive line of silver jewelry. Also in Chicago was the Carence Crafters shop (little is known about them) and the Marshall Field Workshop. In Dayton, Ohio the Frost Workshop and the Forest Craft Guild made many pieces of repoussé jewelry, boxes, bookends, letter openers, watch fobs, picture frames, and more. In Los Angeles Clemens Friedell made magnificent repoussé objects. In particular his ornately swirled monograms feel related to Victoria’s Foliage III mixed metal pendant.
Another connection between the repoussé work of the Arts and Crafts metal workers and Victoria’s work is the use of patination. In particular, Englishman Richard Lllwellyn Benson Rathbone (1864-1939) was known for developing a special patination process for copper and bronze. In San Francisco, Arts & Crafts metalsmith Dirk van Erp would finish a copper object with a patina of red, and then add yellow and dark browns to the finish. Although he favored this particular patina he never passed its secret on to anyone else. Victoria has used her own patina in the previously mentioned Etched Copper Room Divider for Custom Superyacht’s Main Saloon.
Another similarity of early 20th century art jewelry and Victoria’s work is the use of cabochon cut stones. Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau artisans used cabochon stones almost exclusively; faceted stones are rarely seen in this jewelry. So it makes sense that Victoria uses cabochon stones because of their link to periods in history when stones were added to jewelry for color and composition rather than the stone being the focal point and the metalwork merely being its support. This is the same reason the Arts and Craft jewelers used cabochons—faceted gems were too “precious” for this art jewelry.
Sterling, fine silver, 22k gold, Koroit opal;
10 x 6 x 0.625 in;
Photo by Pat Vasquez-Cunningham
The Art Nouveau movement, primarily in France, with its fluid lines, was influenced by several events: two scandals rocked the country in the late 19th century. The Panama Scandal in 1892 revealed corruption in the French government, and the Dreyfus Affair (1894-06) divided the country with anti-Semitism sentiment. These events caused a longing for the past when France was in her most glorious period—the 18th century. The revival of the 18th century Rococo style (a heavily stylized version of the curling acanthus leaf was a signature motif) evolved into the sinuous lines found in Art Nouveau jewelry and decorative arts. Women are an important motif in French Art Nouveau jewelry and their long hair is always portrayed as swirling around their heads in the Art Nouveau curl. These same curved and sensual lines can be seen in Victoria’s jewelry.
Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau jewelry still resonates with jewelry collectors and historians. Victoria has created a continuum in the genre of art jewelry made more than 100 years later which speaks to us for its historical reference and its innate beauty.
Elyse Zorn Karlin is a Jewelry historian, author, lecturer, and co-director The Association for the Study of Jewelry & Related Arts. She is also the author of numerous books, including Jewelry and Metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition (1990) and Aletto: Five Generations of Jewelry with Yvonne J. Markowitz which was published in Fall 2024. She has also written several non-jewelry books.
Radiant Echoes: The Metal Mastery of Victoria Lansford showcases the artist’s journey through over three decades of ground-breaking applications of historical metalsmithing techniques. This retrospective publication comprehensively not only explores Lansford’s endless ability with complex metalsmithing techniques including filigree, Eastern repoussé, and granulation, but also speaks to how her skill and vision marry in the creation of objects that filters tradition through a contemporary lens. Simultaneously an artist, alchemist, and shaman, Lansford brings together the familiar with the unexpected through creative work that rethinks the millennia-old practice of turning raw materials into precious objects.
The book features over 150 images of art jewelry, art objects, and large-scale metalwork drawn from across Lansford’s career as well as a comprehensive glossary of her techniques used, offering a unique opportunity for readers to explore the evolution of Lansford’s creativity and craftsmanship. Radiant Echoes will make a fantastic addition to the library of anyone who loves jewelry, sculpture, metalsmithing, or simply contemplating beautiful objects.
Radiant Echoes includes new essays by curators, scholars, and artists including Kate Bonansinga, Cynthia Eid, Rauni Higson, Elyse Zorn Karlin, Victoria Lansford, and Jane Milosch, with consulting editor Emily Zilber.
Full color, casebound, 186+ pages
ISBN 978-0-9821833-6-6
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