Thierry Despont: Modern Renaissance Man, opening on June 4th at 6:30pm at Maison Gerard (53 East 10th Street in New York), celebrates the versatile genius of a multi-disciplinary artist whose work continues to shape the aesthetic world of today.
Thierry Despont (1948 - 2023) was perhaps best known for his architectural practive—for his integral role in the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, his reimagining of the Ritz in Paris, or the interiors of the Getty Center (as well as for his notable private clients like Bill Gates and Calvin Klein). But he was also a an painter, sculptor, furniture maker, and author, whose deeply personal works were exhibited globally (primarily by Marlborough Gallery).
Maison Gerard’s exhibition recreates key elements of Despont’s personal creative spaces—his iconic Harrison Street office in Tribeca and his studio in the Hamptons—bringing visitors closer to his artistic and architectural vision. The show will provide a window into the intricate mind of masterful balance, of great discipline and scale. Despont, a long-time client of Maison Gerard, shared a fondness—with both the gallery’s founder Gerard Widdershoven, and its current owner (and the show’s curator) Benoist F. Drut—for presenting furniture and objects from very different periods and styles, relishing the unexpected dialogues of such juxtapositions. It is in this imaginative spirit that his works will be displayed. As Drut says, “Thierry Despont’s work was more than design; it was storytelling. He was truly a modern Renaissance man, with prodigious gifts in many disciplines. This exhibition not only honors his legacy but invites visitors to step inside his world, experiencing firsthand the grandeur and intimacy of his vision.”