Radiance and reverie: jewels from the collection of Neil Lane

Abstract

Celebrated jewelry designer Neil Lane is internationally recognized for his storied Hollywood career. His dazzling diamond engagement rings are sold from his eponymous Beverly Hills showroom and prominently on ABC's 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette'. Yet few know that Lane has spent decades building one of the most important jewelry collections in the world. Spanning more than a century, his magnificent holdings represent the most iconic designers of the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, including Suzanne Belperron, Boucheron, Cartier, Castellani, Paul Flato, Jean Fouquet, Marcus & Co., Louis C. Tiffany, Tiffany & Co., Raymond Templier, and Van Cleef & Arpels. This lavish volume reveals the extraordinary scope of Lane's collection. Underscoring its transatlantic roots and cultural significance to fashion and film, it takes readers on a voyage through time - from nineteenth-century Paris and Manhattan to twentieth-century Hollywood. Juxtaposing more than 200 examples of the finest in French and American design with archival photographs, film stills, and other ephemera, 'Radiance and Reverie' presents Lane's collection within the sweeping sociopolitical and cultural changes that defined an era. Many of the earliest pieces were first presented at international exhibitions in the late 1800s, while later ones were owned and immortalized on-screen by stars of Hollywood's golden age. As the world shifted, jewelers in Europe and the United States responded with designs that capture the spirit of the times in which they were living. 'Radiance and Reverie' is a testament to the nature of collecting not only jewelry but also stories - those of the designers and makers, of the bejewelers and the bejeweled, and ultimately of Neil Lane, who has reveled in the fairy-tale quality of it all.

Contents

Director's foreword -- Sponsor's statement -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction / Emily Stoehrer and Diane C. Wright -- Part 1. Phantasmagoria : history and fantasy in nineteenth-century jewelry / Emily Stoehrer -- The art of jewelry : Tiffany & Co. and Louis C. Tiffany / Diane C. Wright -- Jewels from the collection of Neil Lane, 1850-1900 -- Part 2. Brilliantly illuminated : French and American jewelry between the wars / Claudine Seroussi Bretagne -- The shapeshifting glamour of jewelry in the golden age of Hollywood / Marion Fasel -- Diamonds were their career / Mayukh Sen -- Jewels from the collection of Neil Lane, 1900-1950 -- Part 3. A journey in jewels : Neil Lane in conversation with Diane C. Wright -- Makers' biographies / Kelli Fisher -- Selected bibliography -- Photography credits -- Index -- About the authors.