1 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Installation view
The National, 2018
$POA | ENQUIRE
2 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Installation view
The National, 2018
$POA | ENQUIRE
3 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Installation view
The National, 2018
$POA | ENQUIRE
4 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Installation view
The National, 2018
$POA | ENQUIRE
5 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Installation view
The National, 2018
$POA | ENQUIRE
6 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Agnolo Bronzino, ‘Portrait of a young man’ (1530)
Framed print, Brooch, Bracelet, 2017
sterling silver, deer bone, antler, south sea pearl
$POA | SOLD
7 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Agnolo Bronzino ‘Eleonora di Toledo’ (c.1545)
Framed print, Earrings, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, deer antler rose, bone, seed-pearls, baroque pearl
$POA | ENQUIRE
8 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Agnolo Bronzino ‘Lucrezia Panciatichi' (1545)
Framed print, Necklace, 2017
sheep bone, gold, stainless-steel wire
$POA | ENQUIRE
9 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Alexander Roslin ‘Maria Clementina Sobieska’ (1774)
Framed print, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, bone, gold, mixed pearls
$POA | ENQUIRE
10 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Vladimir Borovikovski ‘Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia’
Framed print, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, bone, synthetic hair, pearls
$POA | ENQUIRE
11 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Sir Thomas Lawrence ‘John Fawcett’
Framed print, Brooch, 2017
oxidised sterling silver, bone, pearl
$POA | ENQUIRE
12 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Sir George Hayter ‘Zofia Kiselyova Potocka’
Framed print, Earrings, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, bone, synthetic hair, pearls
$POA | ENQUIRE
13 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
William Powell Frith ‘Selfportrait’
Framed print, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, gold, bone, pink pearl
$POA | ENQUIRE
14 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Ivan Argunov ‘Portrait of a woman in a blue dress’
Framed print, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, bone, gold, south-sea pearl
$POA | ENQUIRE
15 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Joseph Karl Stieler ‘Nanette Kaula’
Framed print, Earrings, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, bone, pearls, synthetic hair
$POA | ENQUIRE
16 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Diego Velazques ‘Selfportrait’ (1660)
Framed print, Necklace, 2017
sterling silver, resin, hare vertebrae, rubber
$POA | ENQUIRE
17 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Titian ‘Portrait of a man in a red cap’
Framed print, Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, bone, gold, baroque pearl
$POA | ENQUIRE
18 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
‘Portrait of a young man’
Brooch, 2017
sterling silver, deer bone, antler, south sea pearl
$POA | SOLD
19 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
‘Lucrezia Panciatichi'
XXL Necklace
sheep bone, gold, stainless-steel wire
$1400 | ENQUIRE
20 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
William Powell Frith
Brooch
sterling silver, gold, bone, pink pearl
$870 | ENQUIRE
21 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Diego Velazques
Necklace, 2017
sterling silver, resin, hare vertebrae, rubber
$1830 | ENQUIRE
22 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
'John Fawcett'
Brooch
oxidised sterling silver, bone, pearl
$700 | SOLD
23 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
The Flock
Necklace, 2017
bone, cord
various lengths
$400-700 | ENQUIRE
24 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
‘Zofia Kiselyova Potocka’
Earrings, 2017
sterling silver, bone
$420 | ENQUIRE
25 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Installation view
$POA | ENQUIRE
26 / 26
Elfi Spiewack
In Splendour Moot
Bracelet, 2017
Bone, sterling silver, seed-pearls, silicone
$860 | ENQUIRE
In Splendour Moot
Elfi Spiewack
01 Feb – 03 Mar 2018
The National presents this unique exhibition, curated and toured by Ashburton Art Gallery, for its second showing in New Zealand.
In Splendour Moot, Spiewack reconstructs the traditional jewellery pieces worn by those of high social rank and importance in portrait paintings from the Renaissance, Baroque and Victorian era. She has taken reproductions of these paintings and edited out the original jewellery and re-created new responses with jewellery pieces which are presented 3-dimensionally on the flat surface of the paintings. These new creations have been made using materials such as silver, gold and pearls which have been juxtaposed with materials of low monetary value like animal bones, antlers and synthetic hair in an attempt to question notions of beauty.
Artist Elfi Spiewack explores jewellery as a marker of self-expression and invites viewers to reconsider preconceived ideas around the value of jewellery and objects of adornment. Spiewack states “Nature has always been a big inspiration, working with ordinary materials and elevating them, putting them into a different context is what interests me. I want to open people’s minds as to what jewellery can be, to challenge the traditional definitions of what jewellery is.”
Ashburton Art Gallery, 2017
Spiewack completed a Bachelor of Arts in Jewellery and Object Design from the University College for Art, Design, Technology and Economy, Pforzheim, Germany. She is represented by The National, and exhibits in galleries throughout New Zealand. She has shown in numerous group and solo shows in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, The Netherland and USA since 1993.
Photo credits: Images copyright Ashburton Art Gallery, 2017. All rights reserved.
Exhibition installation images, courtesy of The National, 2018.