Drawing, Designs for a Brooch

This process drawing relates to a brooch that is a promised gift of Susan Grant Lewin. Here, Visitin is working through the geometric and color concepts that he ultimately translates into gold, red enamel, and niello. When asked about his method, he describes his drawings as the earliest stage in his designs: “they are signs, spots of color.” Indeed, he often completes these drawings before settling upon the type of jewelry that will result. In this drawing, it is as if Visintin has offered several different views or possibilities for the piece of jewelry; each figure on the paper is unique, yet he explores a similar language of color and form in each successive view. Notable is Visitin’s depiction of gold. In keeping with the so-called “Paduan School’s” engagement with the material properties of the metal, Visintin depicts gold with a distinctive, scratchy texture that characterizes much of his jewelry.

Drawing, Designs for a Brooch; Designed by Graziano Visintin (Italian, b. 1954); graphite, black and red color pencil, brush and gold paint on cream wove paper mounted on white wove paper; H x W: 9.5 × 13 cm (3 3/4 × 5 1/8 in.) Mount: 24 × 32.9 cm (9 7/16 × 12 15/16 in.); The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; 2017-45-1