Lecture. Helen Williams Drutt

…no further words are really needed to introduce the grande dame of jewelry, Helen Williams Drutt. Yet it seems a good idea to recall that she is one of the main protagonists of modern jewelry.
In 1967, she was a founding member of the Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen (PCPC).

She taught the history of modern craft at the Philadelphia College of Art and developed the first syllabus for craft at an American college, ever. That was 1973, the year she also opened her now legendary Helen Drutt Gallery in Philadelphia – where all the big names of the jewelry scene exhibited their work. In doing so she created for the first time a place in the United States for the artisan scene that focused on American and later international arts and crafts. In 1978, an exhibition on the jewelry artist William Harper marked the start of her intensive exploration of the subject of jewelry. When, in 1982, Helen Williams Drutt presented the work of British goldsmith Wendy Ramshaw in Philadelphia she effectively forged a link between the United States and Europe.
Modern jewelry is and remains Helen Williams Drutt’s great passion.

So understandably Die Neue Sammlung is highly delighted that Helen Williams Drutt has accepted the museum’s invitation to give a lecture at this year’s jewelry matinée on Sunday.

Supported by the Museumsstiftung zur Förderung der Staatlichen Bayerischen Museen (Museum Foundation for the Promotion of Bavarian State Museums) – Bequest Christof and Ursula Engelhorn