Barbara Witt

1938 - 2025

Barbara Witt
03/29/1938 - 05/21/2025
Barbara Josephine Natoli Witt passed away peacefully on May 21 in Walnut Creek. She was 87 years old. She was born on March 29, 1938 in Passaic, New Jersey to Josephine Castella Natoli and Angelo Natoli. Barbara studied graphic arts at Cooper-Union in New York and completed her art degree at UC Berkeley. In the 1970s, Barbara began creating macrame necklaces. She loved finding ancient and modern artifacts from collectors. She researched the cultures and styles of these pieces thoroughly. She would design the necklace, often coordinating other beads from a similar era. She would often die threads to match colors. Each of her 1700 necklaces were original and never a copy of earlier work. Many of her clients had treasured pieces that Barbara would create a necklace using the pieces.
Her exquisite one-of-a-kind jewelry made her a notable figure in the wearable-art movement and kept her in demand with elite clients from coast to coast.
A 2006 retrospective exhibition of her work at the Museo Italiano Americano in San Francisco described her as "a contemporary artist with the rare distinction of having created her own medium."
Her clients have included the fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, the Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, entertainer Dinah Shore, journalist and ambassador Clare Boothe Luce, diplomat Pamela Harriman, and philanthropist Lenore Annenberg.
Barbara's work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institute, Cooper-Hewitt, The National Design Museum, The Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and the Oakland Museum of California.
She was the subject of a coffee-table book titled "Adornment: The Art of Barbara Natoli Witt" written by museum curator Lois Sherr Dubin.
Barbara was predeceased by her parents, first husband Ronald Witt and son Marc Stefan Witt. She is survived by her second husband Steven Jenner. grand-daughter Imani Witt and great-granddaughter Amira.