At his home in upstate New York, Benoist F. Drut displays an abstract cityscape by Reynold Arnould near a Jacques Adnet cocktail table with an assortment of ceramics.
Photo: Michael Mundy
The Collectors: Benoist F. Drut
The Maison Gerard gallery owner has a 500-piece collection of ceramics including works by Roger Capron, Nadia Pasquer, and Kohei Nakamura
Whether its contemporary African furniture or vintage French ceramics, no treasure is safe once it’s been spotted by Maison Gerard gallery owner Benoist F. Drut. “As a child, I was already collecting everything and nothing,” he says with a launch, explaining how his mother regularly brought him to visit the local antiques dealer in their rural French village. “My taste is very eclectic.”
Today, Drut splits his time between Manhattan, where his Greenwich Village gallery is celebrating 50 years in business, and his estate (dubbed Beaver Dam) in Glen Spey, New York, which is brimming with a head-spinning array of art and design. Chief among them is a 500-piece collection of ceramics including works by Roger Capron, Nadia Pasquer, and Kohei Nakamura. “I love the many forms clay can translate into; it can be utilitarian or decorative, and it’s always beautiful.”
Drut has a 500-piece ceramics collection. Photo: Courtesy of Benoist F. Drut
Treasure trove: Perched on his living room’s Jacques Adnet cocktail table are ceramics by French artist Jean Girel, whose fanciful, unorthodox work Drut regularly shows at the gallery. “He’s a poet, a master, and one of the most important ceramists of our time,” he says, pointing to a standout example that features splashes of speckled yellow glaze and a pair of salamanders crawling on top. “I don’t know a more talented man than him.”
Miracle workers: “I have a great respect for these ceramists, as it requires a physical ability to shape the forms and, in equal measure, also necessitates a certain alchemy.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Late Fall Issue under the headline “The Collectors.” Subscribe to the magazine.
Cover: At his home in upstate New York, Benoist F. Drut displays an abstract cityscape by Reynold Arnould near a Jacques Adnet cocktail table with an assortment of ceramics.
Photo: Michael Mundy
