NEW YORK, NY.- Under the aegis of the Hermitage Museum Foundation (USA), the noted American educator and curator Helen W. Drutt English has organized a stellar collection of contemporary applied art to be donated to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the occasion of its 250th anniversary.

Reflecting Drutt English’s life-long passion, the 74 works not only provide the Hermitage with a broad and varied foundation of 20th- and 21st--century applied art, but resonate with its vast historical collections. Assembled through the generosity of artists and private collectors throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, the collection will be unveiled on December 2, 2014 in the exhibition entitled Gifts from America, on view at the Hermitage through March 8, 2015.

Inventiveness, exquisite workmanship and skill characterize the wide array of objects, which range from a graceful walnut chair by George Nakashima to a set of precious light sconces crafted of hand blown glass and patinated and gold-plated bronze. Whether textiles, metalwork, glass, ceramics or wood, these hand crafted objects cover the major positions and leading voices of the last 40 years. While the core of the collection is by American makers, or those who emigrated and formed their practice in the United States, the scope is international.

“Helen Drutt English has pioneered the revival of artists working in craft media following World War II, not only in the United States, but worldwide. We welcome the generous gift she has organized and are looking forward to sharing the collection with the Russian public,” says Dr. Mikhail B. Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum. The exhibition Gifts from America has been organized by writer and curator Matthew J. Drutt, who also organized and contributed an essay to the accompanying English and Russian language catalogue.

“Gifts from America has been conceived to serve as a celebration of the hand and the survival of the creative spirit in a mechanized society,” notes Drutt English. “The relationship of Russia and America, two countries separated by half of the globe, can be nurtured by an ensuing dialogue. Mutually curious and respectful of each other’s achievements in art and culture, our nations can further their relationship through an exchange of political, social, and cultural events. We hope that the artworks offered here serve to further our common goal of achieving world harmony.”

“This collection of gifts represents the culmination of a unique chain of events over several years, the convergence of many factors and fortuitous coincidences,” says Paul Rodzianko, Chairman of the Hermitage Museum Foundation (USA). “Most of all, however, it has been the work of Helen Drutt English, who is passionately dedicated to our shared belief in the significance of contemporary decorative and applied arts as well as in the need to practice cultural diplomacy on a major scale.”