DIAMOND INSPIRED ARTS

Diamonds have inspired some of the most glorious pieces of jewelry ever created. But could other artists use the form and shape of diamonds for inspiration in media such as architecture, painting, photography, ceramics, textiles, monumental arts and graphic design?

That’s the question Antwerp’s artistic community asked and the result is “Diamond Inspired Arts,” the second diamond jewelry exhibit to open in Antwerp. Contemporary artists will try their hands at creating works in which diamonds appear literally and figuratively. The artists are current and former students and teachers from the Royal Academy of Pine Arts and the National High Institute of Fine Arts. The exhibit will give them a chance to display Antwerp’s continuing artistic tradition to an international audience. The exhibition is sponsored by Paribas Bank.

17th century diamond jewelry

Antwerp in the 17th century was a native city to a host of masterful Flemish Baroque painters, such as Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jacob Jordaens. This artistic flowering was only matched by the growing expertise of Antwerp’s master diamond cutters and jewelry designers, who created spectacular jewelry for the political and cultural leaders of the time. The Diamond High Council has capitalized on Antwerp’s 17th century heritage with an ad campaign that features beautiful paintings from the period, showing such personalities as Rubens’ wife, Helene Fourment, draped in magnificent jewelry.

Now many of the jewelry masterpieces created at that time will be on display in Antwerp for a special exhibit entitled “Diamond Jewelry from Antwerp’s 17th Century,” and organized by the Provincial Diamond Museum.

http://www.jewelrycentral.com/diamond_art.asp