Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online lecture from the Victorian and Albert Museum introducing their exhibition on the jeweller, Cartier. Helen Molesworth, Senior Jewellery Curator and Rachel Garrahan, a project curator and writer for Vogue, did a fun double act to guide us around the themes of the show and to point out key pieces. They outlined the early history of the firm and how it was developed by the grandsons of the founder outlining the roles each of them took. Then looked at the design choices of company was well as how they worked with clients to develop new pieces. They finished by showing us some of the 18 tiaras which close the show. I haven’t manage to go to the show yet but its definitely on the list and I can’t wait!

Fabulous online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum looking the rivalry between the jewellers Faberge and Cartier at the start of the 20th century. The talk pitted Kieran McCarthy, curator of the current Faberge exhibition, against Francesca Cartier Brickell, a descendent of the founder of Cartier and author of a book on the family. They obviously knew each other well and had a good-natured discussion on the relative merits of each firm. In doing so we heard an interesting history of each company and their clients. Cartier was the first of the two companies to arrive in London, setting up shop with the dress designer Worth, with whom they were linked by marriage but they were soon followed by the Russians. A few years later they found themselves on the same road next door to each other. Clients bought from both companies with an emphasis on Cartier for jewellery and Faberge for objects. I had loved the Faberge exhibition and it was good to hear a bit more about the compa...

Glitzy online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum examining the influence of China and Japan on the jeweller Cartier.   Pascale Lepeu, Cartier Collection Curator and Estelle Nikles Van Osselt, former Bauer Collection Curator (about to move to Hong Kong Palace Museum) discussed the material and stylistic influences chaired by Anne Jackson, the curator of museums Kimono’s exhibition. They gave a brief overview of how and when Eastern artefacts started to come to the west and how the 1920s saw a study and appreciation of these pieces following the opening of Japan to the west and the fall of the Chinese Empire in 1912. They pointed out how this coincided with the Art Deco style in Europe and how eastern materials and motifs complimented this. They outlined the different materials and colour combinations which were introduced as well as outlining the main motifs used from the East using wonderful illustrations comparing items made by Cartier with original Eastern pieces ...

Fascinating exhibition at the Design Museum tracing the invention of the wrist watch by Cartier and the subsequent designs by the company. The exhibition itself was designed by the architect Norman Foster. I loved the first section of the show which looked at Paris at start of the 20th century when Cartier began working there and how it influenced his designs. It then talked about his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, an aviator who won a competition to complete a round trip from the Parc Saint Cloud, round the Eifel Tower, and back again in less than half an hour in an airship. Santos-Dumont, who moved into aircraft design, talked to Cartier about how difficult it was to consult a pocket watch while flying a plane so Cartier designed a watch to wear on his wrist for him and named his first design after his friend. The show then took you through the various designs of the classic watches. I must admit I struggled to tell the different between some of the designs. I pr...