Rare US Designer Bill Tendler Sterling Silver Modernist 3-D Winking Cat Brooch Circa 1950s

Measurements: 1.1"H x 1.5"W x .25"Thick (2.79cm x 3.81cm x .64cm)

Markings: Tendler Sterling

Weight: 7.2g

Stunning modernist sterling silver 3-D winking cat brooch by the iconic US designer, Bill Tendler. It has recently been professionally polished and looks phenomenal. Please excuse the lines or reflections, as it's extremely shiny and hard to photograph.
Included with purchase is a converter so it can be worn as a pendant if preferred. Superb collector's piece.

See the last few photos about Bill Tendler as told in the book: "Modernist Jewelry 1930-1960 The Wearable Art Movement" by Marbeth Schon, Published 2004.

Mannequin is a life-size torso representation

Bill Tendler (1906 - 1973) Although not much is known about Bill Tendler's life, although he is considered to be one of the "Founding Fathers" of the US Modernist jewelry movement in the 1940's. This Avant Garde movement kept with ideas and motifs of the Bauhaus, Surrealism, Cubism and it's inherent primitivism. One of the first to establish his shop in Greenwich Village in New York City in the late 1940's and joined with the likes of Art Smith, Ed Wiener, Henry Steig, Irena Brynner, Sam Kramer, Paul Lobel, Sklar, Rima and Rebajes just to name a few. His designs are iconic and his jewelry rare and highly sought after.