The jewelry of Art Smith

I was chatting with my friend Cheryl, a fashion and style consultant who collects perfume bottles, and she asked me to keep an eye out for the jewelry of Art Smith at auction. I don’t buy or wear much jewelry, so this name was unfamiliar to me.

Within a week, a confluence of events stamped the name Art Smith in my brain.  

Googling him, I learned that the Brooklyn Museum was holding an exhibit of his work called “From the Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith.” Next, I was at an auction later that same week when the auctioneer announced that Smith’s jewelry would be available at their special sale next month. I was flabbergasted.

Three times in one week? No way. I think I then understood what serendipity meant.

Smith was a leading modernist jewelry designer during the mid-20^th century, opening his first shop in Greenwich Village in 1946. He is said to be the first African American jewelry designer. His works were a fusion of art and jazz, and his pieces have a kind of rhythm to them. In fact, he made cufflinks for Duke Ellington with notes from the musician’s “Mood Indigo.” Smith died in 1982.

The 21 pieces of gold and silver jewelry at the Brooklyn Museum were a gift from his companion and heir, Charles Russell, according to the museum’s website. The exhibit was in a small gallery on the fourth floor. On the walls were large black and white period photos of models wearing Smith’s jewelry, along with photos of the artist himself. The jewelry – from the 1940s to 1970s – was in glass cases about the room, along with Smith’s original sketches, tools and his shop sign. The exhibit runs until March 14, 2010.

Smith made gold, silver and copper necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings with stones. His pieces were not for the faint-of-heart. Some were oddly shaped, but elegant in their own way. They were more art than jewelry, more display than wearable. My favorite was one called “Autumn Leaves.”

At the auction a month later, seven items were up for sale, some similar to the pieces worn by models in the photos. Here’s how they were described by the auction house, along with the final auction sale prices:

Silver Modern cuff bracelet. 2 ¼” x 2 ½”. Signed, 1948. $5,000.

Silver “Undulation” ring, 1 abalone & 2 agate stones. Size 7 ½ (15.5 dwt). DWT is an abbreviation for pennyweight, used to calculate the weight of gold and other precious metals. Signed. $1,800.

Silver “Biomorphic” ring, grooved Saturn style ring construction supports carnelian & small chrysophrase stones. Size 6 ½ (8.5 dwt). Signed. $675.

Silver Biomorphic” ring w/ ovoid shaped black onyx. Size 6 ¾ (6.5 dwt). Signed. $625.

Silver “Biomorphic” ring w/ carnelian & orange/green agate stones. Size 7 ¼ (7.5 dwt). Signed. $575.

“Patina” earrings, screwback, overall length 2 ¼”. Unsigned. $550.

Art Smith business card, 140 W. Fourth St., NY, NY. $50.

After the auction, I watched as one man hopelessly tried to question the buyer of the $5,000 bracelet. It was obvious that the first man was just being nosy. The buyer deflected his questions and the man soon left him alone.

After a few minutes, I struck up a conversation. I told the buyer that I had just learned about Smith, had seen the exhibit at the museum and was intrigued. He opened up to me, I believe, because I was genuinely interested in Smith rather than the amount of money the buyer had just spent.

He was from New York, and remembered passing Smith’s shop as a child. He had been collecting and buying the artist’s jewelry for the last 20 years, he said, adding that he had bought pieces from this same auction house about two years ago. The current pieces, he said, came from one estate. I asked if he’d seen the exhibit in NY. He had.

He urged me to try to get a copy of the catalog of Smith’s show at the Jamaica Arts Center in Queens, NY, from about 15 to 20 years ago. I checked it out, and found that the exhibit was held in 1990, guest-curated by artist Camille Billops. Sounds good to me, since art catalogs are both collectible and practical.

I also found this 2005 episode of Antiques Roadshow about a woman showing up with an Art Smith necklace that her mother had purchased from the artist in the 1960s.  It was appraised (the original appraisal was actually in 2000) at $5,000 to $10,000.

I couldn’t afford any of Smith’s pieces at my auction, but I was just happy to have found him. Thank you, Cheryl, for introducing him to me. And thank you, Art Smith, for helping me to always remember your name.