THE ARTIST’S EYE
By placing artist’s eyes at the center of this art form, an intimacy is created with these historical women artists that invites a conscious reconsideration of their marks on the world to highlight the importance of their perspectives to the project of filling in the gaps in the art historical narrative and canon.
An exclusive collaboration between Audra Kiewiet de Jonge, Founder of Art/artefact x miniaturist painter Irene Owens, The Artist’s Eye engages the female gaze through the eyes of women artists from history.
A wearable collection of miniature portraits in antique jewelry, these pieces are a modern reframing of the Lover’s Eye–a highly intimate historical form of portraiture–to inspire contemporary conversation about art history and how, and for whom, it is recorded.
The following group of artists span the history of art that includes record of participation by WOMEN creators.
It is a short and incomplete list of great women, each of whom have made remarkable contributions to the rise of Modernism and influenced generations of artists, designers, writers, and creatives.
LAVINIA FONTANA
ÉLISABETH VIGÉE LE BRUN
BERTHE MORISOT
WILLIE “MA WILLIE” ABRAMS
ANNI ALBERS
FRIDA KAHLO
LENORE “LEE” KRASNER
FRANÇOISE GILOT
DIALOGUE
Through the Artist’s Eye project we recognize the power of looking and pay homage to that gaze as a powerful re-inclusion of the past.
In refocusing our attention to their gaze, we participate in creating a dialogue about their perspective. We begin to think and ask overdue questions about being “seen” in society and to shape contemporary history by thoughtfully considering:
What is not there?
Whose point of view do we want looking with us into the future?
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOVER’S EYE
Originating as a token of amorous courtship, this highly intimate and personal miniature portrait tradition was briefly popular in England in the Georgian period before the invention of photography and brought into vogue again by Queen Victoria. The likenesses were intended to only be recognizable and of importance to the wearer–the eye often standing in for an unnamed clandestine or forbidden love, and possibly worn in a concealed place. Over time, the identities of the individuals and their importance was lost.
BUILDING COLLECTIONS TO LIVE IN.
Audra Kiewiet de Jonge is an art advisor and designer who places a collection at the heart of every project.
Formally trained as a painter and an art historian, she brings a modern sensibility to her historical perspective–bringing art and objects into context and conversation with the way we live today.
Led by Audra, Art/artefact is a full service art advisory and interior design practice working with residential, corporate, and boutique hospitality clients nationally.
CONNECT WITH AUDRA
audra@artartefact.com
917.971.8480
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