Jewelry Stories highlights the Museum of Arts and Design’s unique, world-class collection of studio and contemporary art jewelry from the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia, a medium that comprises one-third of its permanent collection. Artists working in this field create jewelry rooted in sculptural experimentation and the concept of art as a wearable medium. The pieces featured represent the history of art jewelry as told from a largely US perspective. Jewelry artists are inspired by such subjects as found objects and materials, as well as by politics and pressing social issues, allowing for the development of unique, personal narratives in each piece. Each of the jewelry stories is written by an expert on the artist or subject, thus the book also celebrates the contributions they have made to the field.

Published to accompany an exhibition at Museum of Arts and Design, New York (US), on permanent display.

There are no rules, and even less justice. Death takes everyone without discrimination. Sometimes it is accidental – like Signorelli, who fell from scaffolding. Sometimes it is expected, as with the diabetic Cezanne, who wrote “I am old, sick, and I swore to die while painting”. But often, researching a painter’s death is an easier task than determining which of their works is truly their ‘last’. Paintings tend to be dated by year and not month, inciting much debate among art historians. This book embraces this ambiguity, studying 100 examples of works that lay completed for several years, or were left unfinished on the easel, or were finished post-mortem by a friend’s grieving hand.

The Last Painting collects 100 terminal paintings from 100 artists, including Dalí, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Goya, Pollock, Rembrandt, Dix, Bonnard, Titien, and many more. Each picture gives us a glimpse into the painter’s mind. Did they know death was coming? Did they paint with denial, or acceptance? Did they return to a favorite subject, or decide to embark on a new, original project while they still had time? A poetic and thought-provoking book, The Last Painting is a sensitive exploration of the relationship between art and death.