Olaf Skoogfors (American, 1930-1975) Vermeil Cloud Pendant Necklace and Brooch, USA, 1973

Gilt sterling silver, mammoth tusk
Pendant with brooch pin back, fitted with optional collar necklace
From an edition of 50, never completed.
Signed and dated: "Olaf Skoogfors, Sterling, 1973"

(H: 2 1/8, W: 1 3/4, D: 3/8 in. (pendant/brooch); H: 8 3/4, W: 5, D: 3/8 in. (overall); Circumference: 16 1/2 in. (necklace))

Qty: (2)

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist
Property from the Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection

Literature

Susan Cummins et al., In Flux: American Jewelry and the Counterculture, Arnoldsche, Stuttgart, 2020, pp. 26-28, 71-72, 103, 116-117, 119, 131
Kelly H. L'Ecuyer, Jewelry by Artists: In the Studio, 1940-2000, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 2010, pp. 118-119

Artist Biography

Born in Bredsjo, Sweden in 1930, artist and craftsman Olaf Skoogfors moved with his family to Wilmington, Delaware in 1934. Ultimately settling in Philadelphia, Skoogfors attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art where he studied metalsmithing and jewelry under the tutelage of Virginia Wireman and Richard Reinhardt. After graduating from the School for American Craftsmen in Rochester, New York in 1957, Skoogfors returned to Philadelphia to open his own studio. He began teaching at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art in 1961, becoming a full professor a decade later. Referring to himself as a “constructivist by inclination,” Skoogfors was best known for his abstract, organic, and sculptural jewelry, which he often made from the lost-wax casting process. He was a member of the First World Congress of Craftsmen in 1964 and a founding member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths in 1970. Prior to his untimely death in 1975, Skoogfors widely exhibited his work, including a solo show “Jewelry by Olaf Skoogfors” at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York in 1968 and “Objects: U.S.A.: The Johnson Collection of Contemporary Crafts,” which premiered in 1969 and later toured the United States and Europe. His work is in the collections of The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among many others.

Very good condition; light surface wear commensurate with age and light use.