{"id":65889,"date":"2026-06-25T13:59:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=65889"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:00:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:00:43","slug":"an-artist-of-line-and-thought-daniel-brush-exhibition-in-cole-van-cleef-amp-arpels-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/an-artist-of-line-and-thought-daniel-brush-exhibition-in-cole-van-cleef-amp-arpels-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"An Artist of Line and Thought: Daniel Brush exhibition in \u00c9cole Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Daniel Brush with his ornamental lathes \u00a9 Nathan Crooker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2019 I missed his exhibition at Phillip\u2019s in New York by a matter of days, and it was a remarkable one: 69 steel bracelets, each dedicated to a significant American actress. It was conversation about huge part of American culture in such a remarkable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the \u00c9cole Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris is hosting the artist\u2019s posthumous exhibition, \u201cThe Art of Line and Light,\u201d assembled by his widow, co-author, and muse Olivia Brush together with the jewellery historian Vivienne Becker. For me personally, the show put a great many things in their right place, why his jewellery never quite looked like jewellery (spoiler: for him, it wasn\u2019t), and why certain pieces read as studies rather than finished works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daniel Brush Nest: Butterflies, Ladybugs, 1990-1992 Pure gold and steel. Private collection. Photo: L’\u00c9COLE, School of Jewelry Arts B. Chelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stacked from 43 images. Method=B (R=1,S=1)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Brush was a painter, a philosopher, a sculptor, and a jeweller, all at once. He was not a painter who \u201calso made jewellery,\u201d treating it as a minor offshoot of proper sculpture. Nor was he a jeweller who \u201calso liked to draw.\u201d He simply did not think within these conventional compartments of artistic practice. He seems to have existed across all media simultaneously, and to have been perfectly comfortable there. Or perhaps across the entire field of culture at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his life he explored the question of whether a jewel must be wearable at all, and, more broadly, to what extent the idea of an ornament needs to accommodate the human body, to remain an adornment rather than an autonomous object. And much else besides. These are large questions, and they do not sit comfortably within the framework of \u201cgold, diamonds, and other precious stones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daniel Brush Mosaic Dome Brooch, 1997 – 1998 Steel, pure gold, 18k gold, diamonds. Private collection. Photo: L’\u00c9COLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Daniel Brush Orb (detail), 1992-1995 Pure gold, steel. Private collection\u044e Photo: L’\u00c9COLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Daniel Brush Thinking About Monet, 2015 – 2020 1018 Steel. Private collection. Photo: L’\u00c9COLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition at \u00c9cole Van Cleef & Arpels shows how he worked with materials, drawing inspiration from Japanese culture and Japanese techniques that are now all but abandoned because of their complexity. Gold and steel, his materials of choice, are extraordinarily difficult to bring together. It shows how he created a series of drawings and brushed gold sheets as an homage to Monet\u2019s Rouen cathedrals, one of the most lyrical artistic homages I have ever seen. Brushing and intricate rhythmic engraving were his signature techniques, which, given his surname, has a certain elegant ring to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daniel Brush Rings of Infinity, 2009-2010 Pure aluminum and diamonds. Private collection. Photo: L’\u00c9COLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Daniel Brush Poppy Set #2, 2010 Stainless steel and diamonds. Private collection. Photo: L’\u00c9COLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition \u201cThe Art of Line and Light\u201d<\/em> <\/em>runs until October 4<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u2019\u00c9cole, School of Jewelry Arts, H\u00f4<\/em>tel de Mercy-Argenteau, 16 bis boulevard Montmartre, Paris 9e<\/sup><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free of charge, but you need to book on the website (which is easier said than done).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some seven or eight years ago, at TEFAF in Maastricht, a colleague drew my attention to a group of steel-and-gold brooches of intricate texture by the American jeweller Daniel Brush. It didn\u2019t click for me at the time, I could appreciate the level of craftsmanship, but as \u201cdesign\u201d I simply couldn\u2019t. What I saw were exquisite artistic studies, not wearable pieces. I noted the name but did not add it to my list of designers I follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":65890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[],"class_list":["post-65889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65899,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65889\/revisions\/65899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65889"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=65889"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=65889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}