Modern Cuff Bracelet

c. 1948

Modern Cuff Bracelet, c. 1948. Arthur George (Art) Smith, (American, 1917–1982). Brass; 10.2 x 7.3 x 7.3 cm (4 x 2 7/8 x 2 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Lee and Lili Siegelson 2020.91 © The Estate of Art Smith Art Smith was one of America’s leading modernist jewelers. From the 1940s to the 1970s he created bold, dramatic pieces out of brass, copper, and silver from his Greenwich Village studio in New York City. The Modern Cuff Bracelet is a careful study in contrasts—light and dark, positive and negative—blending modernist motifs with a traditional African form. An openly gay African American artist, Art Smith became popular with artists and musicians working in Greenwich Village where he maintained a studio and shop.