From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono
By Petra Hesse

A fresh, female-focused take on avant-garde art jewelleryIconic women artists redefine jewellery as personal artistic statementsFrom minimalist elegance to bold sculptural expressionsAn exhibition of the same name runs from 21st November 2025 - 26th April 2026 at the Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne, GermanyText in English and GermanFrom Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono presents around 85 jewellery works by some 45 internationally renowned female visual artists from the 1920s to the present day. Their jewellery pieces open up new, often surprising perspectives on their artistic production. Some pieces captivate with minimalist elegance, others with their expressive, sculptural presence or playful humour, with each unique work consolidating an artistic vision into a small personal statement. With its exhibition of the same name, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK; Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne) deliberately focuses on female standpoints, thus breaking with the male-dominated perception of avant-garde art jewellery.Artists featured include: Lynda Benglis, Pierrette Bloch, Barbara Bloom, Katinka Bock, Louise Bourgeois, Helen Britton, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Claudia Comte, Sheila Concari, Sonia Delaunay, Nathalia Edenmont, Aube Elléouët, Claire von Falkenstein, Ruth Francken, Marcia Grostein, Jenny Holzer, Rebecca Horn, Annabelle d'Huart, Leiko Ikemura, Jacqueline de Jong, Yayoi Kusama, Alicja Kwade, Claude Lalanne, Liliane Lijn, Rita McBride, Blanca Muños, Brigitte Nahon, Eva Renée Nele [E. R. Nele], Louise Nevelson, Michele Oka Doner, Yoko Ono, Meret Oppenheim, Françoise Pétrovitch, Niki de Saint Phalle, Armelle de Sainte Marie, Elodie Seguin, Maïlys Seydoux-Dumas, Kiki Smith, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Dorothea Tanning, Sissel Tolaas, Rosemarie Trockel, Paloma Varga Weisz, Sophia Vari, Joana Vasconcelos, and Zhou Yiyan.Text in English and German.