Arts and Crafts Jewelry in Boston: Frank Gardner Hale and His Circle

The first book on the Arts and Crafts movement behind the "Boston Look"

At the turn of the 20th century in Boston, a vibrant and active community of jewelry makers―along with artists, craftspeople, scholars, critics and patrons―found unity in the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, which held that art and beauty could instill morality and inspire joy.

Frank Gardner Hale, who trained in England with founders of the movement, became the most prominent and prolific creator of works of wearable art, helping to define the "Boston look" characterized by bold use of colored stones and brilliant enamels; refined and delicate settings; and exquisite design and craftsmanship, conceived and executed by a single craftsperson. A leading figure in the community of jewelers and an advocate for the Society of Arts and Crafts, Hale influenced many other important makers, among them Josephine Hartwell Shaw, Edward Everett Oakes, Margaret Rogers and Elizabeth Copeland.

This book, the first in-depth study of the subject, reproduces dozens of ornaments in dazzling color, accompanied by design drawings from the extensive Frank Gardner Hale archive at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. These drawings provide insight into the works' transformation from two to three dimensions and represent rare renderings of many pieces of jewelry that are now lost. The authoritative text brings together scholars of jewelry history and American design to explore how Hale and his contemporaries expressed Arts and Crafts principles in the creation of jewels of enduring allure.