The Gallery Collection: Art History Jewelry
Stacey Bowers
The Gallery Collection is jewelry inspired by art history, long walks in monumental museums, and the little-told stories of the images and symbols that shape our view of the past and present.
The Gallery Collection is jewelry inspired by art history, long walks in monumental museums, and the little-told stories of the images and symbols that shape our view of the past and present. This collection of art history jewelry by no means even begins to encompass the vast history of art, which spans every inhabited place great or small across the globe and includes every culture on our diverse planet. Consider it more like a room—a small gallery—wherein I’ve hung a handful of meaningful works to contemplate and paid homage to them with my own method of interpretive reproduction.
Given the time, assets and freedom, I could have never stopped making this collection; that is to say that if your favorite artist isn’t featured, well, neither is mine. I also explicitly chose works by artists who were active in the early 20th Century and before, as I felt uncomfortable re-interpreting works by living or recently living artists for sale.
This collection is dedicated to my brother Steven, who was an avid reader and lover of all things history and art. He especially loved Gauguin, and as you’ll learn from my Van Gogh-inspired necklace, had an affinity for a certain painting by the artist.
If you’ve ever gazed up at the dreamy glow of sunlight diffusing through a rose window in a Gothic cathedral and marveled at the lengths to which mankind will go to create divine wonder on earth, you’ll cherish the Rose Window Necklace, inspired by the stained glass rose windows of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
If you’ve ever gazed up at the dreamy glow of sunlight diffusing through a rose window in a Gothic cathedral and marveled at the lengths to which mankind will go to create divine wonder on earth, you’ll cherish the Rose Window Necklace, inspired by the stained glass rose windows of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. This cloisonné style enamel pendant measures about 1.5 inches across and hangs from a 14k gold-filled chain that measures 20 in total length but can be fastened up the chain wherever you like so that the length is customizable if you’d like it to sit higher on your chest. The pendant is nickel-free zinc alloy.
Rose windows are a major staple of Gothic architecture and can be found in major Gothic cathedrals across France and elsewhere. Though the stained glass of the Notre Dame rose windows is not original, the windows did survive the 2019 fire that damaged much of the cathedral.
My Caravaggio-inspired Medusa head necklace features a cast bronze or sterling silver pendant of Medusa’s head with wild, curling snakes for hair.
Caravaggio’s (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) often dark and violent subject matter, paired with his signature chiaroscuro (or use of heavy contrast using light and dark) echoed the dramatic, tumultuous life he lived, peppered with murder, assassination attempts, arrests and exile. His famous Medusa, painted in 1596-97, depicts the moment when the legendary snake-haired gorgon of ancient Greek myth was beheaded by Perseus, and the artist experiments with casting his own face as Medusa’s.
My Caravaggio-inspired Medusa head necklace features a cast bronze or sterling silver pendant of Medusa’s head with wild, curling snakes for hair. The pendant hangs from an 18-inch 14k gold-filled or sterling silver chain. The necklace pairs perfectly with my Medusa Serpent Earrings form my Siren Collection inspired by Greek Mythology, and you can learn more about Medusa and those earrings here.
For my da Vinci-Inspired Cat and Mouse Necklace, I chose to focus on this playful fact and add a layer of my own friskiness. This necklace features a large cast bronze medallion impressed with the likeness of one of da Vinci’s cat drawings, and I added a hand-sculpted cast-bronze mouse connector charm above the cat to appear as if it’s stalking the mouse.
If you’re surprised to learn that the man who painted the Mona Lisa spent a lot of his time observing and sketching cats, I’m with you. “Even the smallest feline is a masterpiece of nature” is a quote attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, whose sketches of felines and studies for a painting he intended to finish portraying the Madonna and child holding a cat attest to the artist’s reverence for the animals. For my da Vinci-Inspired Cat and Mouse Necklace, I chose to focus on this playful fact and add a layer of my own friskiness. This necklace features a large cast bronze medallion impressed with the likeness of one of da Vinci’s cat drawings, and I added a hand-sculpted cast-bronze mouse connector charm above the cat to appear as if it’s stalking the mouse.
The entire length of the necklace including the cat and mouse charm is about 17.5 inches, and the chain is 14k gold-filled. It can be fastened up the chain if you prefer a shorter look. It’s also available with JUST the mouse charm on a 16- or 18-inch chain.
These cast bronze and sterling silver hand earrings were inspired by a pair of earrings she actually owned and painted into her work in Self Portrait, Dedicated to Dr Eloesser, a 1940 work depicting her in the pair of oversized hand-shaped earrings that she was also photographed wearing. This self-portrait is a widely circulated painting of hers, and Frida fans will recognize the nod to the hand earrings, which were given to her by fellow artist Pablo Picasso when she visited Paris.
With Frida Kahlo’s bold dissection of herself, the way she painted pain and suffering, culture and ideas, into self-portraits that stared brazenly and honestly back at her, it’s safe to say she created one of the boldest, most-recognizable styles in art history. The life behind her art was so compelling, it’s no wonder why she’s the favorite artist of so many people the world over. She was my favorite artist for years beginning in adolescence, and she’s still one of my very favorites; in my closet somewhere is a study I painted of one of her works in high school.
These cast bronze and sterling silver hand earrings were inspired by a pair of earrings she actually owned and painted into her work in Self Portrait, Dedicated to Dr Eloesser, a 1940 work depicting her in the pair of oversized hand-shaped earrings that she was also photographed wearing. This self-portrait is a widely circulated painting of hers, and Frida fans will recognize the nod to the hand earrings, which were given to her by fellow artist Pablo Picasso when she visited Paris.
These cast bronze or sterling silver hands are left and right hands to mirror each other and suspend from 1-inch wide hypoallergenic 14k gold-filled or sterling silver hoops.
My Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired floral cow skull necklace combines the artist’s motifs of skulls and flowers in a solid cast bronze pendant that hangs from an 18-inch 14K gold-filled chain that can be fastened at shorter lengths if that’s your preference.
Georgia O’Keeffe is simultaneously one of the most celebrated woman artists of the 20th Century and one of the most misunderstood. You’ve definitely seen her work, the most well known of it being large-scale, magnified views of colorful, beautiful flowers. You’ve probably also heard that the flowers are erotic representations of female anatomy. This interpretation of O’Keeffe’s work has been perpetuated for decades and widely accepted, despite the artist’s lifelong struggle to debunk the sexual interpretations foisted onto her work by male art critics and the “male gaze.”
Inspired by the New Mexico landscape and culture she fell in love with and called home, O’Keeffe’s work often included animal skulls. Sun-bleached and weathered presumably by the desert, the skulls are hauntingly beautiful memento mori. Her well-known 1931 work Cow’s Skull: Red White and Blue elevates the weather-beaten skull to national symbol.
My Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired floral cow skull necklace combines the artist’s motifs of skulls and flowers in a solid cast bronze pendant that hangs from an 18-inch 14K gold-filled chain that can be fastened at shorter lengths if that’s your preference.
The beautiful, mysterious Unicorn Tapestries have captivated human hearts for centuries, much like the mythical beast they portray. My Unicorn Tapestries Necklace, complete with carnelian rosary-style chain, pays homage to the tapestries.
The beautiful, mysterious Unicorn Tapestries have captivated human hearts for centuries, much like the mythical beast they portray. The symbolism, weavers and occasion for which they were commissioned is still largely unknown. Created in the late middle ages, the tapestries surely hung on the walls of an aristocrat’s home; large tapestries were beautiful and functional, helping to insulate cold walls and provide privacy between areas of the home.
My Unicorn Tapestries Necklace is modeled after one side a vintage locket depicting The Unicorn In Captivity, popularly considered the final panel of the tapestries, in which the unicorn is subdued in what appears to be happy captivity. The unicorn rests beneath a pomegranate tree bursting with ripe fruit dripping onto the unicorn’s back. The creature is encircled by a small fence and held by a loose tether, but appears to be content.
Unicorns were sometimes considered to symbolize Christ, so I chose a rosary-style gold-plated chain beaded with carnelian, a stone that has been used for centuries to create carved seals that people used as signatures. The chain measures 18 inches long.
My Van Gogh-inspired Smoking Skull Necklace is a substantial piece of sculpted cast bronze that hangs from a 14k gold-filled chain that measures 18 inches in total length but can be fastened up the chain wherever you like so that the length is customizable if you’d prefer it to sit higher on your chest.
Of Vincent Van Gogh’s prolific portfolio, what immediately comes to mind are his warm, sunny floral landscapes and flowers; colorful, swirling self-portraits; dizzying Starry Night; and interiors of peculiar perspectives. But you’ve also probably seen this dark but somewhat amusing painting of a skeleton with a lit cigarette in its teeth. This painting has a particular place in my heart because it held a special place in my brother’s heart; he liked it enough to get a tattoo of it.
Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette, according to the Van Gogh Museum, was an early work: “This skeleton with a lit cigarette in its mouth is a juvenile joke. Van Gogh painted it in early 1886, while studying at the art academy in Antwerp. The painting shows that he had a good command of anatomy. Drawing skeletons was a standard exercise at the academy, but painting them was not part of the curriculum. He must have made this painting at some other time, between or after his lessons.”
My Van Gogh-inspired Smoking Skull Necklace is a substantial piece of sculpted cast bronze that hangs from a 14k gold-filled chain that measures 18 inches in total length but can be fastened up the chain wherever you like so that the length is customizable if you’d prefer it to sit higher on your chest.
Van Gogh’s troubled life and mysterious death are well-known, including acts of self-mutilation, a stint in an asylum, and a suicide that was theorized to be murder by some. I think people who can turn suffering into beauty as Van Gogh did universally captivate us.
My Judith Slaying Holofernes Necklace is a nod to the gruesome, powerful scene by Artemisia Gentileschi, with Holofernes’ severed head above two daggers and a garnet drop of blood.
There’s something scintillating about seeing Artemisia Gentileschi’s image of Judith Slaying Holofernes, a biblical scene also depicted by Caravaggio and other male artists of the Baroque era, and realizing that this c. 1620 painting of a robust, ruthless Judith mercilessly and dutifully slicing the head from Assyrian general Holofernes was painted by a 20-something-year-old woman. If you don’t know the story behind the painting, Holofernes is about to ransack Judith’s city, but he drinks too much before the siege, allows beautiful Judith to enter his tent thinking it’ll be a good time, and Judith cuts off his head while he’s drunk. It’s kind of a lovely feminist twinkle in the Bible if you ask me. What’s so special about Artemisia’s work, (besides finding a well-known woman artist of this era being like finding a needle in a haystack) is the strength and brutality of Judith. Many other works depicting the theme portray Judith as a seductive, demure or more delicate beauty, but Artemisia went really Rosie the Riveter with her Judith, giving her impressive arms that hold Holofernes down while she violently saws off his head, him writhing and blood spurting everywhere.
My Judith Slaying Holofernes Necklace is a nod to the gruesome, powerful scene by Artemisia, with Holofernes’ severed head above two daggers and a garnet drop of blood. The cast bronze or sterling silver pendant hangs from an 18-inch 14K gold-filled or sterling silver chain and is accented with a flat-cut, teardrop-shaped garnet (also the January birthstone if that’s your month).
My Calder-inspired mobile earrings evoke the spirit of Calder’s hanging mobiles and modern aesthetics, suspending cast-bronze circles from hand-bent wire connected to 14k gold-filled hypoallergenic ear wires. The bronze discs are set into motion by your movement.
Alexander Calder’s background in engineering and mathematics intertwined in his prolific artistic works, of which he is probably best known for his hanging sculptures, dubbed “mobiles” by artist Marcel Duchamp. Calder’s earlier mobile works included motors to give them movement, but he found the predictability of the motor-driven movements monotonous, so he began to suspend the mobiles, allowing airflow to give natural kinetic motion to the sculptures. Calder’s dynamic portfolio included jewelry, paintings, theatrical sets and so much more.
My Calder-inspired mobile earrings evoke the spirit of Calder’s hanging mobiles and modern aesthetics, suspending cast-bronze circles from hand-bent wire connected to 14k gold-filled hypoallergenic ear wires. The bronze discs are set into motion by your movement.
Many of Mucha’s illustrations feature beautiful female profiles and shapely feminine bodies haloed by the floral and geometrical patterns signature of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, and this is where I chose to draw inspiration for the Alphonse Mucha-Inspired Art Nouveau Cameo Necklace.
Getting his start in Paris as a magazine illustrator, Czech-born illustrator Alphonse Mucha is one of the greatest names of the Art Nouveau movement that flourished at the turn of the 20th Century. His theatrical posters of actress Sarah Bernhardt catapulted his career in the mid 1890s, leading to prestigious projects with clients like JOB cigarette papers, Beers of the Meuse, Moët-Chandon champagne—all of which became vastly celebrated works in his collection. At the turn of the century he designed a calendar for La Plume which depicted a woman’s head encircled by Zodiac signs, which led to his The Seasons series. Many of Mucha’s illustrations feature beautiful female profiles and shapely feminine bodies haloed by the floral and geometrical patterns signature of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, and this is where I chose to draw inspiration for the Alphonse Mucha-Inspired Art Nouveau Cameo Necklace.
At the center of this cast bronze or sterling silver medallion pendant is the profile of a young woman with billowing vintage hair surrounded by an Art Deco fan pattern. The chain measures 18 inches and is 14k gold-filled or sterling silver.
These cast bronze Corinthian Column Earrings celebrate one of the most decorative column styles. You might recognize them from my Siren Collection inspired by Greek mythology because I’m reviving (pun intended) them from that collection.
One of the first things we learned to identify and appreciate in my college art history classes was architecture styles, and columns were an enormous (no pun intended) part of that. Being able to identify a column helps you date the work, even if that work isn’t thousands of years old, but part of a revival period. These cast bronze Corinthian Column Earrings celebrate one of the most decorative column styles. You might recognize them from my Siren Collection inspired by Greek mythology because I’m reviving (pun intended) them from that collection. Columns interweave with art history just like Greek mythology does, and I felt the column earrings belonged just as much with the Gallery Collection as they do the Siren Collection.
The column charms of the Corinthian Column Earrings measure about 1.25 inches long and are wire wrapped by hand to hang from hypoallergenic 14k gold-filled ear wires.
