The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Last Royal DUBU

The Last Royal DUBU

2018
(American, b. 1944)
America
Gold cloisonné enamel on fine gold and fine silver, gold, tourmaline, moonstone, opal, citrine, glass
13.3 x 14 cm (5 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
Partial gift of William Benjamin-Harper, and partial purchase from the Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2022.255
Location: 228B Cleveland Artists

Description

Cleveland-trained and New York-based William Harper ranks among the leading contemporary jewelers. His work is heralded for its bold originality that weds meticulous technique with a philosophy of contradiction—in the praise of one critic, “beautiful and grotesque.” Such an approach is manifest in The Last Royal DUBU with its exquisitely rendered clashes of disparate materials, vibrant colors, and lush textures. The title references French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985), whose work Harper admires for rebelling against mainstream standards of taste.
  • 2018–2022
    Collection of the artist and his husband, William Benjamin-Harper
    2022
    William Benjamin-Harper, partial gift and sale to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2022–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH
  • William Harper: The Beautiful and the Grotesque, exh. cat. (Cleveland: Cleveland Institute of Art, 2019). Reproduced p. 18; mentioned p. 44.
    "New on View.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 1 (2023): Back cover. Reproduced and Mentioned: Back cover.
  • William Harper: The Beautiful and the Grotesque. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Institute of Art, April 4-June 14, 2019
  • {{cite web|title=The Last Royal DUBU|url=false|author=William Harper|year=2018|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.255