A painting of a spiral design on a white background.
Photography courtesy of the Calder Foundation, New York, and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

April 9, 2025

Words: Lisa Di Venuta

Canvas To Carat: The Hidden Jewelry Talents Of Iconic Artists

French collector Diane Venet counts his visagelike Le Grand Faune pendant among her 220-piece trove of artist-made bijouterie. It turns out, several painters and sculptors shared this hobby. Pairings of their accessories and artworks in their respective mediums compose “Artists’ Jewelry: From Cubism to Pop, the Diane Venet Collection,” at the Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach, Florida, through October 5. Among the ap­prox­imately 250 pieces is Alexander Calder’s primary-colored Spirales tapestry, which is joined by a belt buckle he designed, Lynda Benglis’s Cocoon wall sculpture, shown alongside a silver pin she crafted, and Niki de Saint Phalle’s voluptuous Nana figure, displayed with her Nana Ange brooch. Picasso’s pendant also appears, as does Venet’s coiled silver wedding ring, made by her sculptor husband Bernar, in lieu of a diamond.

A sculpture of a woman in a colorful dress.
Photography courtesy of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, and ADAGP, Paris.
A sculpture made out of different colored objects.
Photography by Lynda Benglis/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
A pink skateboard on a black surface.
Photography by Philippe Gontier/courtesy of the Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, and SIAE, Rome.
A painting of a spiral design on a white background.
Photography courtesy of the Calder Foundation, New York, and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
A gold pendant with a face on it.
Photography by Sherry Griffin/courtesy of the Estate of Pablo Picasso and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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