Art Smith Brooch

Fusing eclectic influences such as Surrealism and African art, Art Smith was a leading mid-century modernist jeweler and one of the few African American designers to break into the field. His oversize geometric pieces with their innovative use of wire, silver forms, brass, aluminum, stone and glass elements were boldly sculptural yet lightweight, becoming popular in the 1940s and ’50s as expressive statements of adornment.

Born in Cuba to Jamaican parents, Smith moved as a child to Brooklyn, New York, in 1920. After showing an early aptitude for art, he earned a scholarship to study at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in Manhattan. He was especially inspired by the pioneering African American jeweler Winifred Mason, who hired Smith to work at her studio. There he witnessed how she engaged with West Indian folk art through bronze and copper.

After graduating, Smith opened his first shop in 1946 on Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village. Facing discrimination in the predominantly Italian area, he relocated to West Fourth Street where he would work until 1979. Smith developed relationships with stores like Bloomingdale’s as well as New York City’s vibrant Black cultural scene, from which his clients included Lena Horne and Duke Ellington. He also designed work for avant-garde Black dance companies such as those led by choreographers Talley Beatty and Pearl Primus and a brooch for Eleanor Roosevelt.

“The body is a component in design just as air and space are,” Smith once stated. Employing biomorphic shapes, he created works such as the Patina necklace that referenced Alexander Calder’s mobiles with its dangling silver cutouts as well as the Lava bracelet involving two layers of metal that undulate around the wrist.

Smith often used unconventional materials for fine jewelry that made it affordable to people beyond the elite, and he was a vocal advocate for Black and gay civil rights. In 2008, the Brooklyn Museum opened a retrospective of his work. His jewelry is included in the collections of major museums such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Find a collection of Art Smith jewelry on 1stDibs.

Vintage brooches, which refer to decorative jewelry traditionally pinned to garments and used to fasten pieces of clothing together where needed, have seen increasing popularity in recent years.

While jewelry trends come and go, brooches are indeed back on the radar thanks to fashion houses like Gucci, Versace, Dior and Saint Laurent, all of which feature fun pinnable designs in their current collections. Whether a dazzlingly naturalistic Art Nouveau dragonfly, a whimsical David Webb animal, a gem-studded bloom or a streamlined abstract design, these jewels add color and sparkle to your look and a spring to your step. 

Given their long history, brooches have expectedly taken on a variety of different shapes and forms over time, with jewelers turning to assorted methods of ornamentation for these accessories, including enameling and the integration of pearls and gemstones. Cameo brooches that originated during the Victorian age are characterized by a shell carved in raised relief that feature portraits of a woman’s profile, while 19th-century micromosaic brooches, comprising innumerable individually placed glass fragments, sometimes feature miniature depictions of a pastoral scene in daily Roman life.

At one time, brooches were symbols of wealth, made primarily from the finest metals and showcasing exquisite precious gemstones. Today, these jewels are inclusive and universal, and you don’t have to travel very far to find an admirer of brooches. They can be richly geometric in form, such as the ornate diamond pins dating from the Art Deco era, or designer-specific, such as the celebrated naturalistic works created by Tiffany & Co., the milk glass and gold confections crafted by Trifari or handmade vintage Chanel brooches of silk or laminated sheer fabric. Chanel, of course, has never abandoned this style, producing gorgeously baroque CC examples since the 1980s.

Brooches are versatile and adaptable. These decorative accessories can be worn in your hair, on hats, scarves and on the lower point of V-neck clothing. Pin a dazzling brooch to the lapel of your blazer-and-tee combo or add a cluster of smaller pins to your overcoat. And while brooches have their place in “mourning jewelry,” in that a mourning brooch is representative of your connection to a lost loved one, they’re widely seen as romantic and symbolic of love, so much so that a hardcore brooch enthusiast might advocate for brooches to be worn over the heart.

Today, find a wide variety of antique and vintage brooches for sale on 1stDibs, including gold brooches, sapphire brooches and more.