Richard Driehaus famously insisted on dimming the lights throughout his Gold Coast museum to capture the feel of 1880s life.
When Driehaus, who died three years ago, came for a visit, the lights inside the mansion went down — and right up again after he’d left.
So it’s reasonable to wonder what the late collector, businessman and philanthropist would have made of the Driehaus Museum’s latest exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry In Perspective,” a show that depends so much on the quality of light. Not to mention that many of the precious and semiprecious stones featured — the majority of which belonged to Driehaus himself — have lingered in the darkness of a bank vault for decades, some never before seen in public.
‘Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective’
When: Through Sept. 22
Where: Driehaus H. Museum, 40 East Erie St.
Tickets: $20; children under 12, and active military with I.D., free
Info: driehausmuseum.org
Tiny moonstones glow like dew drops on an impossibly delicate tiara carved from cow — or possibly ox — horn. A fantastical butterfly pendant appears to radiate a celestial light, a piece that wouldn’t look out of place among the elf folk of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of The Rings.” And arguably the showstopper: A boomerang-shaped opal set in swirling tendrils of gold that make it resemble some sort of bioluminescent jellyfish rising from the depths.
Taken as a whole, the show lingers in the mind like the flashes of filament after you stare too long at a bright light bulb.
Elyse Zorn Karlin, a Maryland-based jewelry historian, curated the show, which occupies six rooms in the museum and runs through Sept. 22.
“Richard has an enormous collection and it covers a lot of different periods,” Karlin said at a press preview last week. “People often concentrate on one period. Richard just went for good design ... He wasn’t worried about the material or the value.”
Karlin, who curated another jewelry exhibit at the museum in 2015, was gobsmacked when she first set eyes on his collection.
“I almost fainted when I saw it because not only was it beautiful, [but] I knew a lot of the pieces,” she said.
All of the items on display come from Chicago collections, including art deco, art nouveau, mid-century modern, and arts and crafts styles. Pieces too by the House of Faberge (although no eggs), Tiffany and Lalique.
It’s not all from Driehaus’ collection. The Chicago History Museum, the Field Museum and the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art have all lent objects. The oldest piece — a pendant cross — dates to about 1600, Karlin said.
Karlin said Driehaus’ collection is unequaled in Chicago for both its quality and depth.
Almost nothing in the show, it should be said, is gaudy — except perhaps the huge brass monstrance, a sunburst piece that would have been used in the Catholic celebration of the Eucharist, with its design meant to represent Christ’s light in the world.
“It is a bit over the top,” Karlin said.
Also a bit over the top is a blue enamel pocket watch encrusted in gold and diamonds. It belonged to Ludwig II of Bavaria, also known as “Mad King Ludwig.” He’s perhaps best remembered for blowing his fortune building increasingly extravagant castles, including Neuschwanstein—the many-spired fortress built atop a rock ledge in Germany.
Even if the history of jewelry isn’t your thing, the idea of human ornamentation and its meaning might be.
“It’s portable wealth. If you have to take off in a hurry, you can take your jewelry with you,” Karlin said. “It can be handed down in the family ... It says a lot about you — what your jewelry looks like, even if you wear a cross or a Jewish star. And it tells history.”
Karlin suspects Driehaus would have approved of the exhibit. He wanted his treasures to be seen.
“And it was clear from from his enthusiasm and almost wide-eyed wonder, that he wanted you to be as thrilled by them as he was. Thrilled, not impressed,” Chicago-based journalist Thomas Connors wrote in September 2021 for The Magazine Antiques.
Or as Karlin put it: “He was thrilled when [the 2015 jewelry show] opened because I don’t think he really understood he had a collection that was worthy of showing the way that we did. He’d be doubly pleased to see that we have a second show — makes me very sad that he’s not here to see it.”
Part of the new exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective” at the Driehaus Museum in River North is seen in this photo, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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A crucifix pendant, circa 1600, made of gold, polychrome enamel, lapiz lazuli and freshwater pearl is displayed as part of the new exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective” at the Driehaus Museum in River North, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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A monstrance, circa 1890, made of gilt bronze, patinated silver and semiprecious stones, that is used to display saints’ relics or the consecrated host in Christian churches, according to the Driehaus Museum, is displayed as part of the new exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective” at the Driehaus Museum in River North, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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A René Lalique Suzanne Statuette from 1925 made of opalescent glass is displayed as part of the new exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective” at the Driehaus Museum in River North, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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Jewelry historian and author Elyse Zorn Karlin, who organized Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective, tours the media around the new exhibit inside the Driehaus Museum in River North, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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is displayed as part of the new exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective” at the Driehaus Museum in River North, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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A Tiffany Studios scent bottle, circa 1900, designed by Paulding Farnham, made of glass, enameled gold, diamond and peridot, is displayed as part of the new exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective” at the Driehaus Museum in River North, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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A Wolfers Frères pendant and chain, 1890-1893, made of gold, plique-à-jour enamel, ruby, pearl and diamond is displayed as part of the new exhibit, “Chicago Collects: Jewelry in Perspective” at the Driehaus Museum in River North, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
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