Pin

Ed Wiener

1978 · 18K white gold and diamonds · Modern and Contemporary Art

This white gold and diamond starburst shaped pin 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. By the late 1960s–80s, he was on Madison Avenue, adopting a post-modern aesthetic in which he revived medieval gold settings with semi-precious stones, historical references including pre-Columbian forms, and semiotic play. This pin 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

1978

Medium

18K white gold and diamonds

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Michele Wiener Caplan, 2016