Thomas Gentille

American artist Thomas Gentille is represented by nine pieces in the permanent collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, more than any other contemporary jeweler. A master of materials, he uses anything that suits his aesthetic -- eggshell inlay, wood, pure pigment, aluminum, zinc, resin, pumice, and even sawdust – to create works that are small in scale but monumental in scope. A technical innovator and mentor for many jewelers, over the years, Gentille was an early director of the current stellar jewelry program at the 92nd Street Y in New York and is the author of Step-by-Step Jewelry (1968). His work is in numerous important private and public collections, as well as the MET, including the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Museum of Arts and Design in New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Newark Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim. Winner of both the Herbert Hofmann and Bavarian State Prize, he was designated a “Modern Classic” in 2006.