1918-1991, USA
As a jeweler, Ed Wiener was an interpreter of the major trends in modern art, believing that an artist must chronicle the basic issues of his time. As a designer, he was a consummate solver of problems. Although he was influenced by the art of Picasso, Archipenko, Belling and Calder, he acknowledged jazz as his greatest mentor. He used music as a metaphor for design: “You improvise and embellish around the basic chords; then the embellishment becomes more important than the harmony; so you delete, paring the passage down to its most brilliant tonal statement.”
Toni Greenbaum, Messengers of Modernism, American Studio Jewelry 1940-1960.