Audra Kiewiet de Jonge, founder of Art/artefact, a Richmond, Va.–based interior design and art advisory practice, has introduced a brooch series in collaboration with British miniaturist Irene Owens. Pieces in their Artist’s Eye collection are modern interpretations of the “lover’s eye”—a token of courtship, featuring a miniature portrait of one’s beloved, that was popular in England during the Georgian era and later brought back into vogue by Queen Victoria.
The intent of the collection, Kiewiet de Jonge tells JCK, was to explore “the uproar that comes when a woman’s gaze looks back on the viewer, from Manet’s Olympia to Laurie Anderson’s Fully Automated Nikon (Object/Objection/Objectivity), 1973 to the present day. The active female gaze continues to make society feel uncomfortable.”
Making their debut during Women’s History Month, the brooches feature watercolor portraits that capture the ocular likenesses of painters Lavinia Fontana, Frida Kahlo, Berthe Morisot, Lee Krasner, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, and Françoise Gilot and artists Anni Albers (textiles) and Ma Willie Abrams (quilting).
“It is a short and incomplete list of great women, each of whom have made remarkable contributions to art and influenced generations of artists, designers, writers, and creatives,” says Kiewiet de Jonge.
The idea for the pins came to de Jonge last summer, following the death of Gilot and “the obituaries that were written about her as ‘Picasso’s muse’ and then rewritten following public criticism about the way women’s careers and lives are seen as a detail in the life of a male counterpart,” she says.
“I wanted to connect the dots of art history and highlight a few of the women who have shaped the field, with a particular focus on those whose own careers were overshadowed or dictated by their male partners or counterpoints,” she explains. “It also was important to me to reference their actual likenesses, which narrowed the pool of artists even further.”
To capture each of the women’s eyes with nuances in color, light, and shadow, Kiewiet de Jonge researched self-portraits of the artists, photographs (where available), and portraits done by other artists to give Owens, the miniaturist painter, “a full perspective with which to create their likenesses,” says Kiewiet de Jonge. “In some instances, I conducted archival research to confirm the colors of their eyes, turning to artist foundations and to the Smithsonian archives.”
And Owens, best known for her intricate miniatures delicately mounted in gold brooches and lockets, delivered with remarkable accuracy, effectively making each jewel the perfect embodiment of history and artistry.
All the pins are 9k gold and available for purchase online; a portion of each sale will go toward furthering research into women artist’s historical contributions.
“See” what you think!
Top: Portrait of Françoise Gilot 9k gold pin with Irene Owens watercolor set in chalcedony with crystal cover, price on request (photos courtesy of Art/artefact)
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