Here’s a dazzling look at the history of our country told through its jewelry. Produced to coincide with the National Jewelry Institute’s “America the Beautiful” exhibition, which will begin at New York’s new American Folk Art Museum and travel throughout Europe and Asia, this sumptuously photographed coffee-table book traces the emotional and cultural implications of jewelry in America. From the Lady Liberty brooch, made in Connecticut in 1797, to the simple, classic prong setting for diamonds developed by Charles Louis Tiffany in 1886, to the elegant cocktail jewelry developed as a protest against Prohibition, Masterpieces of American Jewelry showcases our country’s history in an enchanting new way.
JUDITH PRICE
Ms. Price graduated with honors, from the University of Pennsylvania. After attending the graduate Faculty of Economics at Columbia University and a term at the National Bureau of Economic Research, she joined Time Magazine as a business reporter and was active in the New York cultural world as head of the Art Lending Service and the Corporate Art Advisory Service at the Museum of Modern Art.
Ms. Price founded AVENUE Magazine in 1975. AVENUE pioneered the concept of highly targeted controlled media which has subsequently become a popular phenomenon. In addition to serving affluent households in New York for 25 years, AVENUE published international foreign language editions in Europe, Japan and China. Ms. Price sold AVENUE in 2001 to Stagebill.
Ms. Price remains active in New York City affairs as a board member of the Upper East Side Historic District, and President of the Avenue Association--a public, non-profit foundation dedicated to art and preservations projects. She is a founding Member of the Committee of 200, and as a member of the Young Presidents Organization she co-chaired the 1986 International University in Paris. She is founder of the Young Architects Prize at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; and a member of the Friends of the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.
Ms. Price is currently founder and President of the National Jewelry Institute, the country's first fine jewelry museum. The National Jewelry Institute launched its first exhibition, Masterpieces of American Jewelry, in New York in 2004, before opening in London at Somerset House and in Paris at the Musée Carnavalet. Subsequent exhibitions in the US and Europe include: Treasures of the Titans; Masterpieces of French Jewelry; Lorenz Baumer: The Creative Process of a Jeweler; Olympic Gold; Designer Showcase New York; and Designer Showcase Paris. In 2009 the National Jewelry Institute exhibited Masterpieces of Ancient Jewelry: Exquisite Objects from the Cradle of Civilization, including objects from the Louvre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Berlin Museum, in New York and Chicago. In 2010 Notorious Notable: 20th Century Women of Style was staged at the Museum of the City of New York.
Ms. Price is the author of Executive Style (Simon & Schuster), The Office Style Book (Crown Publishers), Masterpieces of American Jewelry (Running Press), Bijoux des Stars (Paris Musees); Masterpieces of French Jewelry (Running Press); Masterpieces of Ancient Jewelry: Exquisite Objects from the Cradle of Civilization (Running Press). Her sixth book, LEST WE FORGET: Masterpieces in Patriotic Jewelry and Military Decorations will be published this Veterans Day, November 11th by Taylor Trade of Rowman and Littlefield. Ms. Price has received an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as the Creator of the NBC series Behind the Scenes, Made in New York.
Ms. Price has also received the L'Etoile Award for Franco-American cultural relations from the International Herald Tribune; and in 2006 was honored by the Mayor of Paris at the Hotel de Ville with the Medaille de Vermeil for her civic contributions and in 2011 was appointed to the rank of Chevalier in the National Order of the Legion of Honor by the President of the Republic for her "exemplary personal commitment to the culture of France." She was born in Philadelphia and is married to Peter O. Price, Chairman and CEO of Premiere Previews. They reside in New York and Paris.
