Neckpiece

Ed Wiener

1949 · Sterling silver · Modern and Contemporary Art

Comprised of four boomerang-shaped pendants and a medallion attached to a hammered collar, this neckpiece was made by the modernist jeweler Ed Wiener. Wiener’s career started in the 1940s in the bohemian hot bed of Greenwich Village, where he produced hand-hammered silver jewelry alongside other artists such as Sam Kramer and Art Smith. Although his early jewelry found formal inspiration in Alexander Calder, as he progressed, Wiener evolved his own vocabulary, often shaped by his interest in adopting new materials and techniques in casting, setting, and joining. This neckpiece is part of a collection of twelve pieces donated by Wiener’s daughter which show the development his own language of modernist forms.

Artist

Ed Wiener

Date

1949

Medium

Sterling silver

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Michele Wiener Caplan, 2016