BRACELET

Bracelet (USA), ca. 1950
Made by Art Smith (American, 1917–1982)
Silver
H x diam.: 6.3 x 5.5 cm (2 1/2 x 2 3/16 in.
1997-171-1.
Gift of Gretchen Gayle Ellsworth and Margot Gayle.

This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Visual resonance can be detected between Smith’s designs and the works of artists associated with modernist abstraction, such as Jean Arp and Alexander Calder. Especially in the case of Calder, there is an immediate connection as he also made jewelry. For Smith, his jewelry’s fullest expression was dependent on its interaction with the human body. Smith said, “I see jewelry as bold--as an integral part of the face, arm, or body. It should be incomplete until it is on, related to the body.”