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Pendant, 1968

Creator: Albert Paley
Offered by: Brock & Co.

Description
ALBERT PALEY (born 1944)
Pendant, 1968
Forged and fabricated sterling silver and 14K gold, with jade, opal, garnet, and pearls
18 ¼ x 3 ¼ x 3/8 inches
Stamped at pendant back: PALEY / 14K / STERLING
The largest Paley pendant to date. Due to its scale, the linkage system allows it to conform to the contour of the body. Large-scale jewelry became an important theme, with the proportions determined in reference only to the human form and not to the tradition of fashion accessories.

LITERATURE

Edward Lucie-Smith, The Art of Albert Paley, Iron & Bronze & Steel, 1996, page 181, #44, illustrated

Seeking to transform the jeweler's art, Albert Paley reinvented every aspect of the traditional pendant, necklace, or brooch, in order to highlight the relationship of the piece to the body. The most advanced of these "wearable sculptures" recapitulate and reinforce bodily structure and movement.

Paley was a highly successful jewelry artist in 1974 when he won the Renwick Gallery's national design competition and was awarded the commission to design decorative metalwork doors for the gallery shop. His Portal Gates opened the door to a new career for Paley, leading to numerous commissions and world renown for his monumental architectural ironwork and sculpture. Paley's ironwork pays homage to European art nouveau and American abstract expressionism.

Albert Paley, an active artist for over forty years at his studio in Rochester, New York, is the first metal sculptor to receive the coveted Institute Honors awarded by the American Institute of Architects, the Institutes highest award to a non-architect. “The allure of Paley’s art comes through its intrinsic sense of integration of art and architecture,” as one noted architect stated. Paley, Distinguished Professor, holds an Endowed Chair at the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Commissioned by both public institutions and private corporations, Paley has completed more than fifty site-specific works. Some notable examples are the Portal Gates for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, Synergy, a ceremonial archway in Philadelphia, the Portal Gates for the New York State Senate Chambers in Albany, Sentinel, a monumental plaza sculpture for Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as a sixty-five foot sculpture for the entry court of Bausch and Lomb’s headquarters in Rochester, New York. Recently completed works include three sculptures for the National Harbor development near Washington DC, a one hundred and thirty foot long archway titled Animals Always for the St. Louis Zoo, a gate for the Cleveland Botanical Gardens in Cleveland, Ohio, a sculptural relief for Wellington Place, Toronto, Canada, Threshold, a sculpture for the Corporate Headquarters of Klein Steel, Rochester, New York, and Transformation, a ceremonial entranceway for Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Pieces by Albert Paley can be found in the permanent collections of many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Broadly published and an international lecturer, Paley received both his BFA and MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Rochester in 1989, the State University of New York at Brockport in 1996, St. Lawrence University, in Canton, New York in 1997, and the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden in 2012.

COLLECTIONS:

American Craft Museum, New York, New York
Arkansas Arts Center Foundation, Little Rock, Arkansas
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
The Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama
The British Museum, London, England
The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio
Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
The Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University, England
Gannett Publishing Corporation, Washington, DC
Grace Episcopal Church, Scottsville, New York
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford
University, California
Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis Tennessee
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, Minnesota
Mint Museum of Craft and Design
Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas
The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Philadelphia Archdiocese, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Strong Museum, Rochester, New York
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
University of Illinois, Normal, Illinois
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia
The White House, Washington, D.C.
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

More Information

Origin:	United States, New York
Period:	1950-1999
Materials:	Forged and fabricated sterling silver and 14K gold, with jade, opal, garnet, and pearls
Condition:	Excellent.
Creation Date:	1968
Gemstones:	Garnet, Jade, Opal, Pearl
Metals:	Gold, Silver
Gender:	Ladies'
Styles / Movements:	Artist Jewelry, Signed Pieces, Fine Jewelry
Book References:	Edward Lucie-Smith, The Art of Albert Paley, Iron & Bronze & Steel, 1996, page 181, #44, illustrated .
Incollect Reference #:	185063