DIANE VENET, HISTORY
This piece belongs neither to the world of fine jewelry nor to that of costume jewelry. Nor is it associated with independent contemporary jewelry designers who design as much as they create and consider jewelry as a field of expression in its own right. A gesture of affection, artist's jewelry, often created for a loved one, is the work of painters or sculptors for whom this practice remains unusual.
The value of an artist's jewelry piece cannot be measured in carats. It is not judged by its hallmarks, its brilliance, or its transparency. Regardless of the art movement to which it belongs, an artist's jewelry piece created by a painter or sculptor testifies to a renewal of their approach to art—a renewal that is perhaps more playful, but just as rigorous.
From Picasso to Kapoor, Indiana to Koons, Braque to Lichtenstein, Vasarely to Stella, Arman to Rauschenberg, and César to Dali, the collection Diane Venet has amassed includes nearly 200 pieces, small and precious works of art that question the meaning and function of jewelry. Enlightened and inspired by personal favorites, this exhibition reflects Diane Venet's passion for creation: eclectic, playful, and demanding.
The value of an artist's jewelry piece cannot be measured in carats. It is not judged by its hallmarks, its brilliance, or its transparency. Regardless of the art movement to which it belongs, an artist's jewelry piece created by a painter or sculptor testifies to a renewal of their approach to art—a renewal that is perhaps more playful, but just as rigorous.
From Picasso to Kapoor, Indiana to Koons, Braque to Lichtenstein, Vasarely to Stella, Arman to Rauschenberg, and César to Dali, the collection Diane Venet has amassed includes nearly 200 pieces, small and precious works of art that question the meaning and function of jewelry. Enlightened and inspired by personal favorites, this exhibition reflects Diane Venet's passion for creation: eclectic, playful, and demanding.
These creations are always the culmination of an encounter, whether with the artists themselves or with other collectors. "These two groups encouraged me. They provided me with a lot of support in my discovery of this new world in which art, seemingly at play, transcends itself."
Throughout this journey at the Grimaldi Forum, the jewelry resonates with sculptures, drawings, photographs, and filmed interviews. This dialogue allows for varying scales and rhythms and putting hierarchies into perspective. Here, the infinitely small meets the monumental!
The major modern and contemporary movements are represented: the Surrealists, Abstract Art, Pop Art, New Realists, Kinetic Art, Minimal and Conceptual Art.
By exhibiting these works, first in Roubaix, then in New York, Athens, Valencia, Miami, Seoul, Venice, Riga, Paris, and, in the future in other world capitals, the collector hopes to forge the right conditions for new encounters and new wonders. In 2021, two exhibitions at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and at the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg..!
Throughout this journey at the Grimaldi Forum, the jewelry resonates with sculptures, drawings, photographs, and filmed interviews. This dialogue allows for varying scales and rhythms and putting hierarchies into perspective. Here, the infinitely small meets the monumental!
The major modern and contemporary movements are represented: the Surrealists, Abstract Art, Pop Art, New Realists, Kinetic Art, Minimal and Conceptual Art.
By exhibiting these works, first in Roubaix, then in New York, Athens, Valencia, Miami, Seoul, Venice, Riga, Paris, and, in the future in other world capitals, the collector hopes to forge the right conditions for new encounters and new wonders. In 2021, two exhibitions at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and at the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg..!
Born in Paris, Diane Venet was immersed in the world of art from an early age. Surrounded by a family of collectors, her father Jacques Segard was President of the Society of Friends of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris for several years.
From 1967 to 1976, she was a radio and television journalist, co-presenting the weekly cultural programme Samedi Soir, broadcast on France 2. She was married to a French diplomat, with whom she lived in Japan and Morocco, and with whom she had two daughters, Esther and Bérénice. Esther de Beaucé founded the miniMasterpiece gallery in Paris. Diane then moved with her husband, the sculptor Bernar Venet, to New York in the 1980s, where she helped to organise his exhibitions around the world.
An avid collector of art, as well as artists' jewellery, she was able to solicit the loan - and in some cases, the creation - of pieces by many of the most important sculptors of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in order to mount the successful and highly acclaimed exhibition “Bijoux Sculptures” at the Musée La Piscine in Roubaix, north of Paris, in the spring of 2008. The exhibition featured 170 works by 75 artists, collected from 35 private collections, and was accompanied by a book published by Gallimard.
Its success in Roubaix led to a series of exhibitions now entitled ‘From Picasso to Koons: Artists' Jewellery’. Presented at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York in 2011, and accompanied by a book published by Flammarion, at the Benaki Museum in Athens in 2012, followed by IVAM in Valencia, the Bass Museum in Miami, the Hangaram Design Museum at the Seoul Art Center, Palazzo Nani Mocenigo in Venice, the National Museum in Riga (Latvia), and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) in Paris in 2018. A new catalogue was published by Flammarion. In 2021, at the Forum Grimaldi in Monaco and then at the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg.
From 1967 to 1976, she was a radio and television journalist, co-presenting the weekly cultural programme Samedi Soir, broadcast on France 2. She was married to a French diplomat, with whom she lived in Japan and Morocco, and with whom she had two daughters, Esther and Bérénice. Esther de Beaucé founded the miniMasterpiece gallery in Paris. Diane then moved with her husband, the sculptor Bernar Venet, to New York in the 1980s, where she helped to organise his exhibitions around the world.
An avid collector of art, as well as artists' jewellery, she was able to solicit the loan - and in some cases, the creation - of pieces by many of the most important sculptors of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in order to mount the successful and highly acclaimed exhibition “Bijoux Sculptures” at the Musée La Piscine in Roubaix, north of Paris, in the spring of 2008. The exhibition featured 170 works by 75 artists, collected from 35 private collections, and was accompanied by a book published by Gallimard.
Its success in Roubaix led to a series of exhibitions now entitled ‘From Picasso to Koons: Artists' Jewellery’. Presented at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York in 2011, and accompanied by a book published by Flammarion, at the Benaki Museum in Athens in 2012, followed by IVAM in Valencia, the Bass Museum in Miami, the Hangaram Design Museum at the Seoul Art Center, Palazzo Nani Mocenigo in Venice, the National Museum in Riga (Latvia), and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) in Paris in 2018. A new catalogue was published by Flammarion. In 2021, at the Forum Grimaldi in Monaco and then at the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg.