175: CLAIRE FALKENSTEIN, Necklace < Art + Design, 22 February 2022 < Auctions

Art + Design 22 February 2022

Everything is Drawing

Unique Jewelry by Claire Falkenstein

Claire Falkenstein wearing one of her designs at an exhibition of her work in Milan, 1945

Claire Falkenstein made her first piece of jewelry around 1945, an ornamental hat pin crafted to wear to an award ceremony held by the Association of Interior Design. From there, she produced jewelry throughout her lifetime, always related to and in dialogue with her large-scale sculptural works. Falkenstein famously declared, “Everything is drawing,” and her masterful harnessing of line is evident in both her twisted sculptures and elegant necklaces. Rather than creating a distinction between these two practices, Falkenstein embraced them both simultaneously, emphasizing their conceptual interplay and technical similarities. Further to this point, she affirmed, “Jewelry [making] is the best schooling I ever had. One can make mistakes, experiment in structure, design and relationship to the human body.” The exquisite pieces offered here demonstrate both Falkenstein's skill as a jewelry maker and her inventive design sensibility.

She continually reassessed her basic vocabulary—from discontinuous reflective surfaces of curved flat metal plates to networks of thick, coiled rods gripping chunks of glittering colored glass. Still attuned with the times, Falkenstein continues to update those forms and vigorously declares herself timelessly young.

Art critic Merle Schipper, 1986

Claire Falkenstein 1908–1997

As an artist of singular innovation and energy, Claire Falkenstein explored a range of mediums but became known for her expansive wire structures that often included found glass and wood. Born in 1908 in Coos Bay, Oregon, Falkenstein grew up in Berkeley, California and attended the University of California in 1930, studying sculpture, philosophy and anthropology. She continued her studies in sculpture at Mills College in Oakland and while there, studied under the avant-garde artist Alexander Archipenko.

Falkenstein's first major body of work emerged in the early 1940s, with her Set Structures, which her made of wooden elements that could be disassembled. In 1947, she began teaching at the California School of Fine Arts and in 1950 she re-located to Paris; this move would prove pivotal to Falkenstein's work, as she encountered influential artists of the European avant-garde, as well as Peggy Guggenheim, who would become a major supporter of Falkenstein's work. During this time, jewelry became a main focus for Falkenstein; Working out of a tiny studio and with not much money, Falkenstein created works inspired by the free-form abstraction popular among Paris’ vanguard with castoff and nontraditional materials. A significant breakthrough for Falkenstein came in 1961, when Guggenheim commissioned her to design the gates at the Palazzo Venier de Leoni in Venice—a work regarded as one of the finest of her prodigious career and one that illustrates Falkenstein’s inimitable ability to create forms that exist beyond the physical space they inhabit.

Falkenstein eventually returned to the United States in 1963, settling in Venice, California, where she lived until her death in 1997. She created enduring large-scale public works during this time, most notably, the doors, gates and windows at the St. Basil Catholic Church in Los Angeles. At the later end of her life, she had turned her focus to painting. Her works are held in such prestigious collections as the Pompidou Centre, Paris, the Tate, London and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Upcoming Lots Claire Falkenstein