Jewelry: The Body Transformed

Edited by Melanie Holcomb with contributions by Kim Benzel, Soyoung Lee, Diana Craig Patch, Joanne Pillsbury, and Beth Carver Wees

As an art form, jewelry is defined primarily through its connection to and interaction with the body—extending it, amplifying it, accentuating it, distorting it, concealing it, or transforming it. Addressing six different modes of the body—Deconstructed, Divine, Regal, Idealized, Alluring, and Resplendent— this artfully designed catalogue illustrates how these various definitions of the body give meaning to the jewelry that adorns and enhances it.

Essays on topics spanning a wide range of times and cultures establish how jewelry was used as a symbol of power, status, and identity, from earflares of warrior heroes in Pre-Colombian Peru to bowknot…See More