The Power Of Jewellery
Adorn|September - October 2018

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is holding anexhibition Jewelry: The Body Transformed that will explore the ways in which jewellery acts upon the body, its adornment functions; its ritualistic symbolisms, and how it fuels aspirations and more to form a collective, cultural memory. The exhibition will open on November 12 this year and run through February 24 next year.

The Power Of Jewellery

What is jewellery? Why do we wear it? What meaning does it convey? The exhibition ‘Jewelry: The Body Transformed’ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, will traverse time and space to explore how jewellery acts upon and activates the body it adorns.

This global conversation about one of the most personal and universal of art forms brings together some 230 objects drawn almost exclusively from The Met collection. The conversation pieces consist of an assortment of headdresses and ear ornaments, brooches and belts, necklaces and rings created between 2600 B.C.E. and the present day will be displayed along with sculptures, paintings, prints, and photographs that will enrich and strengthen the many stories of transformation that jewellery tells.

If the body is a stage, jewellery is one of its most dazzling performers. Throughout history and across cultures, jewellery has served as an extension and amplification of the body, accentuating it, enhancing it, distorting it, and ultimately transforming it. Jewellery is an essential feature in the acts that make us human, be they rituals of marriage or death, celebrations or battles. At every turn, it expresses some of our highest aspirations.

Exhibition Overview

The exhibition will open with a striking installation that emphasizes the universality of jewellery—precious objects made for the body, a singular and glorious setting for the display of art. Great jewellery from around the world will be presented in a radiant display that groups these ornaments according to the part of the body they adorn: head and hair; nose, lips, and ears; neck and chest; arms and hands; and waist, ankles, and feet.

This story is from the September - October 2018 edition of Adorn.

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This story is from the September - October 2018 edition of Adorn.

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