Among Friends. American and German Jewelry Artists from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection

Born in 1930, Drutt worked her way through the 1960s to become one of the United States’ most pioneering gallery owners. In 1974 she opened her arts and crafts gallery in Philadelphia, the first of its kind in America. That same year she met Claus Bury. His architectural approach to jewelry design piqued her curiosity, leading her to travel to Germany for the first time in 1988. Soon she was asked to recommend American and Canadian artists for the Schmuck show at the Internationale Handwerksmesse in Munich.For the past sixty years, Helen Williams Drutt has been a passionate observer and collector of contemporary jewelry art and has used it as a means of communication and diplomacy, something also evident in Drutt’s collection, which brings her keen eye for the exceptional to life while showing that, for her, jewelry is a simultaneous expression of personal friendship, encounter, and dialogue.

The works of American jewelry art presented in the publication reflect the diversity of the past seventy years, comprising modern, minimalistic pieces as well as narrative works and jewelry objects with a strong sociopolitical message. The objects by German jewelry artists, in turn, offer a vivid chronicle of how contemporary jewelry from the two countries have diverged in their evolution. Alongside the extensive catalogue section of jewelry selected by Petra Hölscher and Barbara Schmidt, the book provides an insight into the life of the renowned gallerist in numerous hitherto unpublished photographs, an interview with Helen W. Drutt herself, and texts by devoted colleagues.

In addition, essays explore the development of jewelry art in the USA and Germany, contextualizing Drutt’s influence. The publication closes with biographies of all featured artists.The book, designed by Ina Bauer and featuring silver debossed lettering, is a visual and tactile masterclass. It is also a statement on sustainability, for the cover is made of Toile Ocean, the first ever book-binding textile whose threads are predominantly sourced from ocean-bound plastics. The publication accompanies the exhibition at Galerie Handwerk in Munich, realized in cooperation with the Neue Sammlung and the Danner Stiftung. This is an homage to Helen Williams Drutt—and a celebration of the artistic dialogue between two great traditions of jewelry art.


Selected Artists:
USA: Melanie Bilenker, Ken Cory, Aaron Decker, Claire Falkenstein, William Harper, Sam Kramer, Stanley Lechtzin, Keith Lewis, Albert Paley, Joyce C. Scott, Helen Shirk, Olaf Skoogfors, Kiff Slemmons, Don Tompkins, Merrily Tompkins, J. Fred Woell.
Germany: Manfred Bischoff, Helen Britton, Claus Bury, Georg Dobler, Christiane Förster, Mirjam Hiller, Hermann Jünger, Daniel Kruger, Falko Marx, Dorothea Prühl, Gerd Rothmann, Bettina Speckner.