Adam's Fine Jewellery & Watches Tuesday 14th September 2021

T uesday 14 th S eptember 2021 . S tarting at 6 pm 44 ARTIST’S JEWELS Jewellery made by artists is a rarity.This is not simply down to the fact that there have been only a select number of painters and sculptors who have managed to master the skill involved with making jewellery, but more so because the fruits of their work remain largely buried in private collections.Artist’s jewellery may be given as a gift to a lover, passed down as a family heirloom, or simply kept by the artist themselves. Jew- ellery of this kind is therefore imbued with a deeply personal nature which is integral to the creative process.The term‘art jewellery’ itself signifies that the work is handmade and unique. Never mass produced, such jewellery is rather the result of a collaboration between the artist and a jeweller who is trained in the field, or the sole efforts of the artist to step outside his or her own métier to embrace an entirely different world.As with any creative endeavour, the jewellery becomes an extension of the artist’s wider body of work and offers an insight into a realm of design aside from painting or sculpture.The pieces in this sale offer just that and provide us with a glimpse into the intricate workings and personal motivations of three prolific early 20th century artists – Jean Cocteau,André Derain and Pablo Picasso.All three worked under the helm of goldsmith and master-craftsman François Hugo , who provided them with the tools to enable their artistic vision to flourish in the world of jewellery-making. The great-grandson of the eminent writerVictor Hugo and son of painter Georges Hugo, François Hugo’s well-established lineage boasts a host of widely celebrated French cultural figures. François was born in Rovezzano, Italy, in 1899, and trained as an engineer in his early years before entering the creative field by trying his hand at sculpture and painting. He then opened his own workshop in Paris in 1934, where he worked as a silver and goldsmith from 1936 onwards.Throughout the SecondWorldWar and following into the late 40s and 50s, François Hugo designed and created buttons from non-precious metals and enamel for fashion houses including Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and Lanvin. His first attempt at creating jewellery had in fact come before theWar, in the form of a brief and experimental collaboration with his close friendAndre Derain, but it wasn’t until later that he fully dedicated himself to perfecting the craft of silver and goldsmithing. Francois Hugo was responsible for some of the most important collaborations in precious metals of the twentieth century. Since the 1950s, Ateliers Hugo have famously collaborated with some of the world’s greatest artists and sparked a movement of‘Bijoux d’Artistes’. Initially, all the artists who Hugo worked with were long-time friends, and included the likes of Max Ernst, JeanArp, Jean Cocteau,Andre Derain, Dor- otheaTanning and Pablo Picasso amongst others. Hugo ingeniously proposed to them to make reduced versions of their works which would be crafted in his workshop and could serve as wearable jewellery.Over sixty-five years later, François’ 32-year-old grandson Nicolas now runs the family business, following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps as the third generation ofAteliers Hugo to create intricate treasures and develop new collections with contemporary artists at their goldsmith workshop in the South of France.The 65th anniversary ofAteliers Hugo was celebrated in 2020 and marked by new collaborations, including one withAmerican artist Josh Sperling, released inApril of this year.