Photograph and copyright Manfredi Bellati
Photograph by Sherry Griffin
Venice - Palazzo Nani Mocenigo: Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons Exhibition. The Precious - from Pablo Picasso to Jeff Koons jewelry exhibition at Palazzo Nani Mocenigo, now the Vitraria Glass +A Museum, is on until April 12 and is curated by Diane Venet and Ewald Stastny. From Pablo Picasso to Jeff Koons from Louise Bourgeois to Damien Hirst, from Lucio Fontana to Anish Kapoor, these are just a few of the more than a hundred modern and contemporary artists, from
the Diane Venet Collection on show, who have explored the world of jewelry and created surprising works of art and for the main part are unknown to the wider public. Many jewels entered the collection after research, meetings, and journeys undertaken to track down rare pieces. All tell the story of an interaction between private lives and the history of art.
Above. Jeff Koons – Rabbit necklace - 2005-2009 - platinum edition 11/50 - Jeff Koons for Stella McCartney. Pablo Picasso – Visage Rond – 1972 – gold - 16/20Edition Francois Hugo.
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. This incredible collection has been put together over the years by Diane Venet, the wife of the renowned French artist Bernar Venet; she is a Parisian collector whose adopted home is New York.
Above.Diane Venet, between Jerome Zieseniss and Matteo Corvino.
Photograph and copyright Manfredi Bellati
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. Georges Braque – broches – gold, precious stones - Edition Heger de Lowenfeld.
Photograph and copyright Manfredi Bellati
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. Diane Venet began the collection one day when her husband, the French artist Benar Venet rolled a thin tube of silver around her left ring finger, like a wedding-band; this was followed by brooches and bracelets, each one of which corresponded to a new development of his art.
Above. Bernar Venet
-
GRIB - 2012 - sterling silver - edition 1/4.
Ewald Stastny, co-curator of the exhibition and creative director of Vitraria Glass +A Museum
Photograph and copyright Manfredi Bellati
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. Some of the artists on display initially refused Diane’s invitation to make jewels, but later, tempted to try out their own language on a different scale, and with different media, took up the challenge; one such was Frank Stella.
Above. Frank Stella
- Untitled -
2010 -
gold
edition of 5 - The Gallery Mourmans.
Caroline Murat
Francoise Pams and Gaby Wagner
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. Lucio Fontana - Elisse Concetto – 1967 – silver, pink spray - 5/10 - edition Gem Giancarlo Montebello
Giorgio Vigna with Louise Bourgeois’s
- Collier - barre de metal -
1948 - edition release 1998 - silver
37/39 - edition Chus Bures
Eugenia Grandchamp des Raux and Christophe Gayral
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. The collection has grown over time and has included works by such friends and artists as Cesar, who has compressed bracelets and pendants belonging to the Venet family in order to give them a new lease of life, and Chamberlain, above, who gave Diane his first jewel, a painted brooch in crushed aluminum.
Above. John Chamberlain -
Untitled - 1998 -
paint, aluminum – unique piece.
Toni Mauer
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. Gio Pomodoro
-
Untitled -
1967 -
Belgium marble
- unique
edition - Gem Giancarlo Montebello.
Photograph and copyright Manfredi Bellati
Giancarlo Montebello
Matteo Corvino, Barbara Nani Mocenigo and Gerard Julien Salvy
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. The double meaning of this exhibition begins with its very title: Precious. Not only because it refers to extremely rare and precious artworks, but also because it captures their profound and personal symbolic significance, which was often the original source of inspiration for the artists, as was the case with the pebbles that Picasso picked up from the beach and then painted for Dora Maar, or the pieces of bone on which he engraved the portrait of Marie-Therese.
Above. Gijs Bakker - Adam
- 1988 - gold plated brass – PVC laminated photograph.
Maria Grazia Rosin and Sigrid de Montrond
Precious - from Picasso to Jeff Koons. Miguel Chevalier – Minicubes -
2011- resin, unique 3D print
Elisabetta Cipriani is wearing a necklace by Giuseppe Penone which is also featured in the exhibition, it is one of a multiple edition by Elisabetta Cipriani.
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