The Art of Line and Light exhibition featuring the work of Daniel Brush opens on June 8th and runs until October 4th in Paris, bringing together more than 75 pieces of art, including jewels, paintings, and sculptures. Many of these items have never left the artist’s Manhattan studio. Brush died in 2022 at the age of 75. The show is curated by his wife and lifelong collaborator Olivia Brush, along with jewellery historian Vivienne Becker, who wrote the definitive monograph on his work.
A Life Spent in Solitude
Brush’s influence on art jewellery remains profound. A self-taught goldsmith who began as a painter and sculptor, he withdrew from public life in 1978. For over a decade, he worked in near seclusion in his New York loft, mastering the ancient Etruscan technique of granulation. This method involves soldering tiny gold grains to a gold surface. He perfected it to a level matching the ancients, but his exploration didn’t stop there.
Over four decades, he produced a vast body of work, from delicate granulated gold domes to sculptural cuffs in blued steel. He worked alone, without assistants, often shaping metal directly without sketches. His pieces are now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection and have been displayed by the Smithsonian, the Museum of Arts and Design, and auction houses Christie’s and Phillips.
Brush questioned the boundaries between fine art and jewellery. He argued that even the smallest object could carry historical weight. The exhibition reflects the ideas that drove his career. It examines whether jewellery must be worn, if it can exist as a handheld object, and where it fits within art. These questions shaped his work, which ignored traditional divisions between disciplines.
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Line and Light
The exhibition highlights recurring themes in Brush’s art. Light, for him, represented divine illumination—the glow of Ravenna’s golden mosaics or the grandeur of cathedrals he visited. Line symbolized breath, poetry, and the creative energy behind his process. Together, they reveal the mind of an artist who balanced philosophy, craftsmanship, and poetry in precious materials.
His “Maze” series features gold and steel in layered, shifting patterns, reflecting the passage of time. In “Nest,” butterflies rest on a steel form inlaid with gold, creating a sense of fleeting movement. The “La Ménagerie Magnétique” collection transforms animal portraiture into studies of line. An elephant head brooch, for example, uses carved dark material, pale elements, and diamonds to explore contrast and volume.
The show is free, with entry available upon registration. It runs Tuesday to Sunday, with late openings until 8:30 PM on Thursdays. The venue is L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, located at Hôtel de Mercy Argenteau, 16 bis boulevard Montmartre, Paris 9e.
Brush’s work continues to challenge perceptions of jewellery as art.
