Lot 147: Margaret De Patta

brooch
USA, c. 1950

3.75 w x .25 d x 1 h inches

silver, onyx

Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry 1940-1960, Greenbaum, ppg. 62-69 discuss artist Design Quarterly #33, Walker Art Center, ppg. 5-7 includes artist comments

Widely recognized as a canonical designer of modernist jewelry, De Patta was a prolific artist whose works address and unify many concepts common to applied arts, such as space, form, tension, structure, and scale. Her designs were included in "Modern Jewelry Design," an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946 and in the American exhibition at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958. The subject of two retrospective shows, De Patta's first exhibition in 1965 at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts was followed by an exhibition at the Oakland Museum in 1976. Signed with impressed artist's cipher to verso.