A patinated Sterling silver shackle necklace.
Solid two-piece necklace consisting of an angular omega-shaped bracket and a curved lower bar with five centrally positioned drill holes. Hallmarks: ‘LB’, Expl. ‘2/39’. 17.5 x 18.3 x 5.0 cm. Inner diameter 16.0 x 13.0 cm. Weight 404.61 g.
Design Louise Bourgeois, 1948. Execution in a limited edition by Chus Burés, Madrid, c.2001.
Necklace created by L. Bourgeois in the 1940s to wear herself to denounce women’s status, the social, political, and legal constraints affecting women before the feminist movement. Solid sterling silver necklace in the form of shackle with a curved lower bar through which are drilled five holes. The original designed by Bourgeois in 1948 and later produced in a limited edition of 39 by the artist jeweller Chus Burés, Madrid, in 1999. During the preparations for the 1999 exhibition, Memoria y Arquitetura at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Reina Sofia, Madrid, the original necklace re-surfaced, and was brought to the jeweller Chus Burés to assess. It had been made in a darkened metal, but from a meeting between Bourgeois and Bures the idea arose to make a limited edition in silver with a satin finish, which Bourgeois liked very much. Bures further designed a chain set with large crystals that could be attached to one of the five small holes drilled to the front that Bourgeois originally designed for attaching strings.
Certificate
Confirmation from Galerie Charles Taché, Barcelona is available.
Provenance
Acquired in 2002 from Galleria Charles Taché, Barcelona.
Literature
Cf. cat. Bijoux d'Artistes de Calder á Koons, La Collection idéale de Diane Venet, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris 2018, no. 25, shown here with the crystal necklace by Chus Burés. Another example in the exhibition cat. Bijoux d'Artistes - Une Collection, Credit Municipal de Paris, 2012, p. 56; another example illustrated in Küppers (ed.), Katalog Künstlerschmuck - Objets d'Art, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne 2009, p. 25.