A NEW exhibition organised by L’ÉCOLE School of Jewellery Arts will honour the late American artist Daniel Brush. Daniel Brush: The Art of Line and Light (from 8 June – 4 October 2026) brings together more than seventy-five jewels, paintings and sculptures, many leaving the artist’s New York studio for the first time.
Brush, who died in 2022, developed a singular practice that fused meticulous, largely self-taught craftsmanship with a philosophical inquiry into light, line and material. His work sits somewhere between disciplines, dissolving the boundaries between jewellery, sculpture and drawing. Minimal forms and finely worked surfaces respond quietly to light, shifting almost imperceptibly as the viewer moves.
Left: Daniel Brush: Maze, 1992 | Pure gold, steel | Photograph: L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly | Right: Daniel Brush: “La Ménagerie Magnétique: Basset Hound”, 2007 | Plastic, resin, colored diamonds, ink, steel, gold, magnet | Photograph: L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly
Presented by L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewellery Arts, founded in 2012 with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels, the exhibition forms part of the institution’s broader mission to share knowledge of jewellery history and craftsmanship with a wider public. A programme of talks and workshops will accompany the show, exploring Brush’s interdisciplinary approach and the dialogue between art and science that informed his work.
Daniel Brush: Poppy Cuffs, 2010 | Stainless steel and diamonds | Photograph: L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly
Among the highlights are the stainless-steel and diamond Poppy Set, the Rings of Infinity fashioned from pure aluminium and diamonds, and the contemplative Thinking About Monet, forged from 1018 steel. Each piece reflects Brush’s fascination with precision engineering and poetic restraint, objects that appear almost austere, yet reveal remarkable technical and conceptual complexity.
Daniel Brush: “La Ménagerie Magnétique: Elephant Head” Brooch, 2006 | Plastic, resin, steel, gold, magnet, diamonds | Photograph: L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts – B. Chelly
The retrospective also traces the arc of Brush’s career, from his early studies at Carnegie Institute of Technology to his move to Manhattan in 1978. There, working alongside his wife, Olivia Brush, in a studio filled with antique lathes and custom-built tools, he developed the painstaking techniques that would define his practice.
by Ellis Dowle
Daniel Brush, The Art of Line and Light: 8 June – 4 October, 2026
L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewellery Arts, Supported by Van Cleef & Arpels
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