Object Study

Trophée de Vaillance, Jean Schlumberger’s Design for Diana Vreeland

Authors

  • Amy McHugh Independent Scholar

Abstract

In 1955 the art magazine Apollo published an eight-page article dedicated to the French jewelry designer Jean Schlumberger (1908-1987), calling his creations representations of “fantasy and thought.” [i] The article included Schlumberger’s Trophée de Vaillance (Trophy of Valor), a clip crafted from platinum, gold, diamonds, amethysts, rubies, and enamel. Created in 1941 while working in New York, Schlumberger designed the jewel for his dear friend Diana Vreeland (1903-1989).

Prior to working in New York, Schlumberger was involved in Paris’s Surrealist artistic circles – the leading avant-garde art movement of the interwar period. He created whimsical jewelry and accessories for the city’s socialites and artists. Schlumberger’s approach to designing - using dreams as inspiration and creating a jewel for pure beauty, not for intrinsic value – was influenced by his involvement with the Surrealists. This essay will explore the development of Schlumberger’s Surrealist aesthetic, his ideas about jewelry designing, and the inspiration behind the Trophée de Vaillance.

[i] Marie Louise D’Otrange-Mastai, “Jean Schlumberger: Creator of Jewels,” Apollo (June 1955): 164.

Author Biography

Amy McHugh, Independent Scholar

Amy McHugh received her M.A. in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from Parsons The New School. She is currently an independent curator, but previously was associate curator at the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg, Florida, where her work centered on the jewelry and metalwork produced in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She formerly held the position of assistant curator for the Tiffany& Co. Archives, where she focused on exploring Tiffany’s legacy in watches, royal customers, and the creations of Jean Schlumberger. She contributed to the publications Drawn to Beauty: The Art and Atelier of Jean Schlumberger (2019) and The Splendor of Power (2018).

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Published

2022-10-12

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2022): Journal of Surrealism and the Americas

Section

Feature Articles