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APPRAISERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA TO HOST LECTURE ON 19TH & 20TH CENTURY JEWELRY w/no cuts

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NEW YORK CITY — On Monday, February 7, the Appraisers Association of America will present the third lecture of six in its 2004-2005 Ronald Bourgeault lecture series. Titled “Stylistic Relationships of Late Nineteenth Century and Early Twentieth Century Jewelry,” the speaker is jewelry historian Elyse Zorn Karlin, immediate past president of the American Society of Jewelry Historians, a journalist and publisher of Adornment, The Newsletter of Jewelry and Related Arts and the author of Jewelry and Metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition. She is currently working on her second book about America’s first ladies and their jewelry.

For her lecture, Karlin will discuss the confluence of styles of the Nineteenth Century Victorian jewelry meeting the aesthetic movements of the Twentieth Century and the new research that has emerged with fascinating connections between jewelry design and materials and their relationship to the artistic, economic and cultural climate of the period.

For 20 years Karlin contributed to the jewelry supplement of Heritage Magazine and Jewelers Circular Keystone. She has also been the contributing editor to Collectors Clocks and Jewelry magazine. Other publications include: Jewel, The Journal of the American Society of Jewelry Historians, The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles and Auction Market Resource for Gems and Jewelry.

A frequent lecturer, Karlin most recently presented “Against the Machine: Jewelry of the Arts and Crafts Movement” and gave a hands-on workshop on “Arts & Crafts” at the 22nd Summer Conference of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers on Crafts.

Lectures are sponsored by Ronald Bourgeault, Northeast Auctions, and are conducted monthly at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South. Jacket and tie required. Lectures begin at 6 pm; reception follows at 7 pm. AAA/ISA/ASA members free; general admission $15. Reservations; 212-889-5404.

RARE ILLUSTRATED BOOKS TO OPEN AT AMON CARTER JAN 29 EXHIBITION w/2 cuts tg/lsb set 1-7 #614431

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — One of the country’s finest private collections of rare illustrated books is the subject of a special exhibition opening at the Amon Carter Museum January 29 and continuing through May 8. “Stamped with a National Character: Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books” will feature more than 120 items that trace the development of color illustration in Nineteenth Century America, from its tentative beginnings when hand colored engraving was most prevalent to the invention of photomechanical reproduction processes.

Assembled by noted New Haven, Conn.-based historian and antiquarian William S. Reese, the books represent rare examples on such varied subjects as natural history, Native Americans, travel, medicine, architecture, landscaping and fashion. The exhibition is a journey into the nearly forgotten world of color-printing practices, a time when producing beautiful books was a point of national pride.

Each publication is a work of extraordinary artistry, and together, the books offer viewers insight into the tastes and interests of the Nineteenth Century, reflecting Americans’ eagerness for knowledge and accurate information. Color reproductions are commonplace now, but in the early Nineteenth Century, producing a color plate was an elaborate process executed entirely by hand. Color in books represented luxury, and most publishers used it judiciously until late in the century, when photomechanical printing made color much less expensive.

The exhibition will explore both the evolution of printing processes and the uses of color-plate books in cultural and scientific contexts. It begins with the earliest color-plate book produced in the United States, William R. Birch’s The City of Philadelphia…As It Appeared in the Year 1800, a spectacular 28-page book with hand colored copper plate engravings. Also included in the exhibition is a series of John James Audubon’s remarkable publications, the most notable of which is the 1861 chromolithographed edition of The Birds of America, the largest American color-plate book of the century. The exhibition concludes with the 1890s and the rise of the three-color halftone, a more economical process that soon became the primary means of color reproduction in the Twentieth Century.

The Amon Carter Museum is at 3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; Thursday, 10 am to 8 pm; and Sunday, noon to 5 pm. For information, 817-738-1933 or www.CarterMuseum.org.