AROUND HOME : Art Deco Jewelry

NOW VIRTUALLY a classical style, Art Deco reached its height between 1925 and 1935. Like art nouveau before it, Art Deco was an attempt to create a universal idiom, applicable to interior design, architecture and the decorative arts in general. Its nature can be seen with particular clarity in the striking jewelry of the day.

The roots of Art Deco lie in many different areas: in the work of architects such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Frank Lloyd Wright and Adolf Loos; in the bold costumes and exotic colors of the Ballets Russes of 1909; in the artifacts of Tutankhamen’s tomb, opened beginning in 1922; in the discovery and popularity of African and pre-Columbian art; in the streamlined industrial design of the time, and in the bold geometry of Cubism.

Throughout the 19th Century and well into the 20th, Paris was the fashion center for jewelry--as it was for clothes and furniture and all the decorative arts. Pyramid and scarab motifs, hieroglyphics and the evidence of the Egyptians’ penchant for enamel and semiprecious stones are commonly found in Art Deco jewelry, along with the stepped form of the Aztec temple and the materials of Indian art--obsidian, onyx, rock crystal and jade. Under the influence of Cubism, jewelry became simpler; shapes became triangular, hexagonal and trapezoidal to go with modern furnishings and costumes.

The great names of Art Deco jewelry are still well-known: Cartier, Boucheron, Lalique, Fouquet. An important development occurred when fine artists--Braque, Cocteau, Man Ray, Dali, Picasso, Calder, Giacometti, among them--began designing jewelry. Coco Chanel is credited with the fact that, in the 1920s, wearing jewelry in the daytime became fashionable, and that costume jewelry became popular.

Mass-produced costume jewelry was made from new industrial materials such as Bakelite and various types of plastics. Aluminum discs were set with imitation onyx and colored enamels, and the use of exotic stones and metals was popular: onyx, ebony, chrome, lapis lazuli, lacquered metals, agate, coral, rhinestones, jade, tortoise-shell, jet and moonstone. A riot of color and contrasting textures was the rule of the day, and the jewelry produced was as varied as the materials used: cigarette holders and cases, rings, geometric necklaces, compacts, diamond and jet pins, glass pendants and wristwatches for day and evening wear.

Recent sales at auction included a silver and onyx necklace and bracelet by Antonio Pineda ($1,300); a green Bakelite leaf necklace, circa 1925 ($175 to $150); a necklace of entwined silver and yellow strands with blue and orange beadwork balls, circa 1920, Wiener Werkstatte ($1,000-$1,400).

The symmetrical and generally rectilinear style of Art Deco can be seen in dramatic miniature in the art of the jeweler.

Art Deco jewelry can be found at Frances E. Klein in Beverly Hills; Main Street USA and Beaded Bird in Venice; Sherman Oaks Antique Mall in Sherman Oaks; Century Antiques in Glendale; Jay’s Antiques in Pasadena; Snooty Fox in Ventura; Collector’s Thrift Shop in Santa Ana; Dal’s Antiques in Lawndale; Anna Vocka’s Antiques in Lomita; Castle Antiques in Costa Mesa; Nancy Dunn Antiques in Newport Beach; Antique Warehouse in Solana Beach, and Antique Seller and Treasure Trove in San Diego.