Brooch thumbnail 1
Brooch thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Jewellery, Rooms 91, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery

Brooch

1981 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

De Large studied ceramics at the Camberwell School of Art and later silversmithing at the Royal College of Art, London, where he became interested in titanium. In 1975 he was awarded the Sandersons Art in Industry Award to travel in Japan, where he concentrated on the skills of metal inlay and patination. He went on to develop his own sophisticated and exacting method of anodizing titanium allowing him to achieve a remarkably complex and painterly effect.

In this piece, with its confetti-like scattering of brightly-coloured shapes, each shape required careful masking and individual treatment both for polishing the surface and applying the elecrical charge. Variations of colour are created by varying the voltage and timing of the electrical current through the metal, while the fine detail he achieves, notably in the clouds, is the reward of carefully controlling the current through the finest tip of a modified paintbrush.

De Large developed this style and technique through the second half of the 1970s. This brooch, made in 1981 after he had left London for San Diego, he has referred to as 'the ultimate expression of that series'.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Brooch of titanium and silver, with a white gold pin; by Edward de Large, San Diego, United States of America, 1981
Physical description
The brooch comprises a silver frame of compressed rhombus form within which is a brightly-coloured titanium panel. The panel is divided into a lower cloudscape and an upper area of clear sky ranging from blue through to yellow and orange, and across the whole panel are scattered different sizes and colours of four-sided shapes resembling confetti. The upper sides of the titanium panel are shaded and the lower sides of the silver frame polished, to give a convincing illusion of depth to what is a flat sheet. On the reverse is a horizontal pin, the catch for which is missing.


Dimensions
  • Height: 64mm
  • Width: 74.5mm
  • Depth: 12.5mm
Marks and inscriptions
Ed. (scratched freehand on the reverse)
Credit line
Given by Caroline Whyman
Object history
Edward de Large has commented that this piece remained in his collection only because the catch had broken almost immediately. He used it as a sample to show his mastery of this technique and regarded it as 'the ultimate expression of that series' (in converstaion 13/02/2013).
Summary
De Large studied ceramics at the Camberwell School of Art and later silversmithing at the Royal College of Art, London, where he became interested in titanium. In 1975 he was awarded the Sandersons Art in Industry Award to travel in Japan, where he concentrated on the skills of metal inlay and patination. He went on to develop his own sophisticated and exacting method of anodizing titanium allowing him to achieve a remarkably complex and painterly effect.

In this piece, with its confetti-like scattering of brightly-coloured shapes, each shape required careful masking and individual treatment both for polishing the surface and applying the elecrical charge. Variations of colour are created by varying the voltage and timing of the electrical current through the metal, while the fine detail he achieves, notably in the clouds, is the reward of carefully controlling the current through the finest tip of a modified paintbrush.

De Large developed this style and technique through the second half of the 1970s. This brooch, made in 1981 after he had left London for San Diego, he has referred to as 'the ultimate expression of that series'.
Collection
Accession number
M.7-2013

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Record createdMarch 12, 2013
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