Jewelry by One of America's First Abstract Sculptors: Abram Lassaw's "Bosom Sculptures"

Jewelry That Makes You Think.

ARTICLE

A HISTORY OF IBRAM LASSAW'S "BOSOM SCULPTURES"

Jewelry by One of America's First Abstract Sculptors

by Denise Lassaw

For close to 50 years, one of America's first abstract sculptors playfully created unique bronze sculptures designed to wear as necklaces. Ibram Lassaw (1913–2003) arrived in New York as a child. His sculptures are in the collections of the Whitney, the Museum of Modern Art, the MoMA, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Smithsonian, and many other institutions. He made his first pendant in 1951. By 1987 he estimated he had made more than 1,000 pieces of jewelry, which he saw as wearable sculpture. In this article, Lassaw's daughter recounts everything she knows about the pieces, either from firsthand experience or from poring through her father's archives.

Caption: Ibram Lassaw, Ernestine Pendant, 1962, bronze over wire, acid-treated spots, 160 x 160 mm, photo: Denise Lassaw

AJF LIVE WITH HEEJOO KIM

Wednesday, April 28, 11 a.m. EST

Note: This event takes place one hour earlier than usual.

Join us for AJF Live with Heejoo Kim, a Seoul-based artist who mainly talks about life and time, using metal electroforming and enamel. The color expressed in the enamel evokes the unconscious nostalgia shared by all human beings and suggests the time of the aeons, inspiring us to imagine the past of the past.

This event is free, and open to members and non-members alike. For more information and to register, follow this link.

What time?

8 a.m. PST: San Francisco

9 a.m. MST: Denver

10 a.m. CST: San Antonio, Mexico City, Bogotá

11 a.m. EST: Toronto, NYC

11 a.m.: Santiago

12 p.m.: Buenos Aires

4 p.m.: London

5 p.m.: Brussels, Paris, Cape Town, Oslo

6 p.m.: Bucharest, Athens, Tel Aviv, Tallinn

10 p.m.: Bangkok