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A very striking vintage Mid-Century modern brass pin by Art Smith, New York City, c.1950’s-60’s
This piece is a wonderful, large sculptural brass jewelry pin made by the brilliant mid-century modernist New York City jewelery artist, Art Smith (1917-1982) whose first name essentially says it all. Born in Cuba of Jamaican parents, Arthur “Art” Smith emigrated to New York City when he was three years old. From 1946 to 1979, he had a tiny storefront shop in Greenwich Village where he made most of his marvelous and highly-inventive jewelry working largely in brass and copper due to financial restraints and only very rarely in silver or gold, and generally then just for commissioned pieces.
Today, Art Smith is widely considered to be one of the foremost, most influential and most collectible Modernist
jewelers of the 20th Century. In recognition of the significance of his body of work, The Brooklyn Museum put on a major retrospective exhibition of Art Smith’s work in 2008. As an interesting sidebar, one of our longtime New York City clients tells us that when she was a little girl, she would occasionally walk down to Greenwich Village just to watch Smith at work through the front window of his shop.
“A piece of jewelry is in a sense an object that is not complete in itself. Jewelry is a ‘what is it?’ until you relate it to the body. The body is a component in design just as air and space are. Like line, form, and color, the body is a material to work with. It is one of the basic inspirations in creating form.”
-Art Smith
Art Smith with some of his jewelry pieces, c. 1950
Photo source and © ganoskin.com
This large pin dates to around the 1950's-60's and it is an absolutely wild and wonderful freeform abstract sculptural construction made of brass. The design possesses a great energy and vitality with “rays” exploding outwards in all four directions from the center. The interior and exterior side surfaces of the brass bars have been intentionally oxidized or darkened to increase contrast with their brighter front sections which is a technique Smith used regularly. Some areas of this oxidization have worn off over time. The pin can be beautifully worn in either horizontal or vertical orientations as the spirit moves you. The overall amount of artistic sophistication and level of technical expertise shown in the piece are outstanding, on the artistic level of the finest Modern paintings or sculptures by Smith’s European and American contemporaries, Picasso, Giacometti, Rothko, Calder, Kline, Miro etc.
The nicely-sized pin measures 2 1/2" in width and it is 2 1/4" in height measured on its primary horizontal orientation.
It weighs a very comfortable 29 grams or 1 ounce. The pin is properly and handsomely signed “Art Smith” on the reverse
in the artist’s customary cursive signature. The pin is in very good original vintage condition for its 60-70 or so years of age with some degree of wear in the form of a few nicks and scratches and oxidation wear. The pin’s rollover closure is in excellent working order.
This pin is a unique and completely original Modern sculptural art object by a completely unique and totally original Modern American artist. It is unconditionally guaranteed to turn heads whenever and wherever you wear it, yours included.
Price $795