If you’re in Westchester this summer…

Visit the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation in Mount Kisco, New York.

The French-born businessman, art collector, philanthropist, and father of award-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Gérard “William” Louis-Dreyfus (1932-2016), began collecting art in the 1970s with works by artist Raymond Mason. Over the next five decades, he built a private, museum-quality collection of more than 3,000 works, ranging from blue-chip artists such as Jean Dubuffet, Helen Frankenthaler, and Alberto Giacometti to self-taught, or so-called “outsider,” artists including Bill Traylor, Thornton Dial, Nellie Mae Rowe, and James Castle. Social justice, particularly for African Americans, was a lifelong pursuit of Louis-Dreyfus, and much of the art he collected reflected those values, according to Christina Kee, Curator of the Collection.

Louis-Dreyfus was born in 1932 in Ville-d’Avray, on the outskirts of Paris. His father, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, fought for the Free French during the war, while his grandfather founded the Louis Dreyfus commodities trading business that William would later lead. A graduate of Duke University with degrees in English literature and law, poetry remained a lifelong passion. He served as president of the Poetry Society of America from 1998 to 2008, taught poetry at Jackie Robinson High School in Harlem from 1995 to 1997, and funded scholarships for African American students at universities and high schools across the United States.

 

French-born Art Collector Gérard “William” Louis-Dreyfus (1932-2016). Photo courtesy of the WLD Foundation.

 

His commitment to education and opportunity also shaped his philanthropy. In 2015, after watching a 60 Minutes segment explaining the Harlem Children’s Zone’s “cradle to college” methodology, Louis-Dreyfus donated the proceeds from much of his collection to the organization. That same year, Brad Hall, one of his sons-in-law, directed Generosity of Eye, a documentary exploring both the collection and its connection to the Harlem Children’s Zone.

“Nothing about these artists’ life circumstances, apart from their own inclinations, led them to create,” Louis-Dreyfus once said when works from his collection were exhibited. “Their realities were in many ways very constrained, and yet their work is both sophisticated and genuine.”

Today, the William Louis-Dreyfous Foundation is open to the public by appointment. During a recent visit, curator Christina Kee guided us through some of the collection’s highlights.

 

WLD Foundation Curator Christina Kee pointing to “soot and spit” works by self-taught -and profoundly deaf- artist James Castle (American, 1899-1977) who innovatively made art using found paper, soot from his family’s wood burning stove, and his own saliva.

 

James Castle (American, 1899-1977). Untitled (Interior with Stove/Outbuilding), n.d. Found paper, soot. On loan from the Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection.

 

A wall of works by Bill Traylor (American, 1853-1949), who was born into slavery and began drawing at the age of 84. Working on discarded cardboard with pencil and poster paint, he produced an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 works in just over three years. Today, his work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and many others.

 

Bill Traylor (American, 1853-1949). Blue Goat, 1939-1942. Pencil and poster paint on cardboard

 

Installation view of the collection

 

Raymond Mason (English, 1922-2010). The Departure of Fruit and Vegetables from the Heart of Paris, 1969-1971. Epoxy resin and acrylic paint.

 

Installation view of the collection

 

Graham Nickson (English, 1946-2025). Lifeguard Chair with Five Bathers, 1982-1983. Acrylic on canvas. Gift of the William Louis-Dreyfus Estate, 2016. (Right) Helene Appel (German 1976 – ). Loosely Laid Out Large Blue Fabric,
2013. Watercolor on Burlap, 127 1/2” X 97 5/8”,  Gift of the William Louis-Dreyfus Estate, 2016.

 

Graham Nickson (English, 1946-2025). Lifeguard Chair with Five Bathers, 1982-1983. Acrylic on canvas.

 

Graham Nickson (English, 1946-2025). Rainbathers, 1982-1997. Lascaux acrylic on canvas. 96 × 156 in. Gift of the William Louis-Dreyfus Estate, 2016.