ORGANIZED BY THE PETIT PALAIS, PARIS AND THE DIXON GALLERY AND GARDENS

Bijoux parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris brings to Memphis iconic and inimitable jewels from the famous French jewelry houses of Falize, Boucheron, Lalique, Cartier, and others.

The exhibition tells the dazzling story of French jewelry from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries and draws from the extensive collection of fine jewelry, drawings, paintings, and fashion prints from the Petit Palais in Paris, one of the great art museums of France. Bijoux parisiens features nearly seventy works of jewelry and over 200 design paintings, fashion prints, and photographs, tracing changing styles from the Neoclassicism of the Napoleonic era, through the Art Deco.

Rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and emeralds sparkle in brooches, necklaces, and earrings, but also in elegant paintings of jewelry design. The exhibition fuses fashion, art, and history through beautiful suites of objects. Bijoux parisiens illustrates the exhibitions, events, and influences that helped establish the great Parisian maisons that are household names today. Bijoux parisiens marks the second collaboration with the Petit Palais after the retrospective exhibition Jean-Louis Forain: La Comédie parisienne in 2011. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color, hardcover catalogue authored by Gilles Chazal and Martine Chazal of the Petit Palais, featuring an introduction by Dixon director Kevin Sharp.