From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono

Jewellery by Female Artists

21st November 2025 until 26th April 2026

For the first time in Germany, the Cologne Museum of Applied Arts (MAKK) will present a special exhibition dedicated to jewellery designs by female visual artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibition From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono. Jewellery by Female Artists will feature around 90 pieces of jewellery created by 45 internationally renowned female artists. 

The works provide an insight into the art movements from the 1920s to the present day – from Surrealist icons Meret Oppenheim and Aube Elléouet to the critically acclaimed conceptual artist Alicja Kwade. The pieces reflect contemporary artistic trends and at the same time provide surprising perspectives on the oeuvre of the individual artists. Each exhibit distils an artistic vision into a wearable statement. Some pieces captivate with minimalist aesthetics, while others command attention with expressive, sculptural presence or playful humour.

Conceived exclusively for the MAKK, the exhibition places a deliberate focus on female perspectives, challenging the traditionally male-dominated narrative surrounding avant-garde artists' jewellery of the 20th and 21st centuries. 

Featured artists include: Lynda Benglis, Pierrette Bloch, Barbara Bloom, Katinka Bock, Louise Bourgeois, Helen Britton, Claudia Comte, Sheila Concari, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Sonia Delaunay, Nathalia Edenmont, Aube Elléouët, Claire von Falkenstein, Ruth Francken, Marcia Grostein, Jenny Holzer, Rebecca Horn, Annabelle D’Huart, Leiko Ikemura, Jacqueline de Jong, Yayoi Kusama, Alicja Kwade, Claude Lalanne, Liliane Lijn, Rita McBride, Blanca Muños, Brigitte Nahon, Eva Renée Nele, Louise Nevelson, Michele Oka Doner, Yoko Ono, Meret Oppenheim, Françoise Pétrovitch, Armelle de Sainte Marie, Niki de Saint Phalle, Elodie Seguin, Maïlys Seydoux-Dumas, Kiki Smith, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Dorothea Tanning, Rosemarie Trockel, Paloma Varga Weisz, Sophia Vari, Joana Vasconcelos and Zhou Yiyan.

With the exhibition From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono, the MAKK builds on the huge success of its exhibition Fascination Jewellery. 7000 years of jewellery art at the MAKK, which showcases highlights from the museum’s own jewellery collection and has drawn both large audiences and international media attention. For the first time in the museum’s history, some 370 objects from the MAKK jewellery collection are displayed in a presentation ranging from antiquity to the present day. The new exhibition acts as a satellite to that landmark show, offering a more in-depth exploration of the collection.

Accompanying Catalogue: 
Edited by Petra Hesse and Lena Hoppe, with a contribution by Louisa Guinness, the bilingual catalogue From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono. Jewellery Female Artists (German/English) will be published in November 2025 by arnoldsche Art Publishers.