Spring Sunday in the City: Part 1

San Francisco Spring Morning Skyline
San Francisco spring morning skyline view from Palace of the Legion of Honor

Yesterday Pat Accorinti and I made an early morning visit  to the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for a Metal Arts Guild organized private tour of the Cartier and America exhibit. Our group had a 30 minute head start on other museum visitors. Our enthusiastic docent shared a lot of good information about Cartier and the exhibition pieces.

Cartier Rendering of Duchess of Windsor Bib Necklace
Cartier and America postcard. Design drawing for Duchess of Windsor bib necklace 1947. Photo: Nick Welsh, Cartier Collection

Once of my favorite parts of the exhibit was the room with Cartier’s renderings. While in the room I picked out a couple of favorite designs and was happy to see them realized in precious metals and stones in other rooms of the exhibit. Visiting the rendering room again after seeing the entire exhibit, I was surprised to note how many of the rendered pieces were on display in the exhibition.

Gloria Swanson Cartier Bracelets 1930
FAMSF postcard: Gloria Swanson's Bracelets 1930. Cartier and America Exhibit. Palace of the Legion of Honor. Rock crystal, diamonds and platinum, stretchable. Photo: Cartier Archives

Film stars in the past used to wear their own jewelry in films and on the red carpets. Amazing considering the amount some wore. The scanned in postcard shows flexible bracelets that Gloria Swanson wore in a film.