Thomas Gentille, wearing a brooch of his own design, at Gallery Loupe. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe

Thomas Gentille is undoubtedly a master of the brooch. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art owns four. His creations can also be found in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne and Houston’s Museum of Fine Art.

An eminence grise in the art jewelry field, 74-year-old Gentille is little known in art circles, despite his work’s obvious connections to painting and sculpture, albeit on a small, wearable scale.

He studied painting and sculpture at the Cleveland Institute of Art in the 1950s. His work is spiritually bound to Minimalists like Agnes Martin and Donald Judd and Fred Sandback.

His astoundingly inventive show, Thomas Gentille Twenty First Century, is on view until Nov. 20 at the excellent Gallery Loupe in Montclair, New Jersey. I’ve included a selection of images below, priced about $3,000-$10,000.

The Ohio-born artist lives and works on the Upper East Side. He is a brilliant colorist, fastidious craftsman and wildly inventive with his materials, using pumice, bone, aircraft plywood, woods and eggshell.

Gallery Loupe has produced a 120-page catalog, designed by Gentille, available through the gallery. Click here for images.

Brooch made from mahogany, cherry, maple, pigmented resin and metal. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steven Brian Samuels

Recalls late Rothko. Thomas Gentille brooch made of cedar, maple, pigmented resin, matte enamel and metal. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steven Brian Samuels

Thomas Gentille brooch made of aluminized maple. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steven Brian Samuels

Thomas Gentille brooch of maple, paint and metal. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steve Brian Samuels

Thomas Gentille brooch of eggshell inlay, india ink and metal. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steve Brian Samuels

Thomas Gentille brooch of cherry wood, pigmented inlays and metal. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steve Brian Samuels

Thomas Gentille brooch of pigmented resin, cork, cherry wood and metal. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steve Brian Samuels

Thomas Gentille brooch of polychromed maple and vinyl coated steel. Photo: Courtesy Gallery Loupe and Steve Brian Samuels

Thomas Gentille brooch of paint, pumice, zinc and stainless steel. Photo: Gallery Loupe and Steven Brian Samuels