Modernist jewellery was produced around the 1930's to the 1960's. It was essentially a rejection of the styles that came before it; the decorative quality of Victorian jewellery, the fussiness of Art Nouvea and the rigidity of Art Deco. It was an embrace of straight clean lines and intersecting curves. "The Modernists free thinkers and artists who broke away from the mainstream of jewelry design and looked to the fine arts for inspiration - they were Surrealists, Cubists, and Abstract Expressionists acting as sculptors in small scale, painters in enamels, and architects in miniature." (Schon: Modernist Jewelry 1930-1960: The Wearable Art Movement)