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Lot Essay
Property from the Collection of Phyllis and Fred Pressman encapsulates the sophisticated and visionary aesthetic tastes of this legendary couple. The second generation of the family who founded Barneys, the legendary luxury emporium, the Pressmans brought elevated taste and an impeccable eye to their family business. Taking over the family operation, Fred sourced trailblazing European designers, bringing Giorgio Armani and Hubert de Givenchy to an American audience for the first time. Phyllis, who began working at Barneys in order to spend more time with her husband, brought the objects and textiles she discovered on her travels to Paris and London to a new home goods department, as well as bringing her curatorial vision to the department store’s famed window displays. Phyllis encapsulated her vision for the store when she told an employee that “I want people to feel as if they’re shopping in someone’s home” (P. Pressman, quoted in P. Green, “Phyllis Pressman,” New York Times, April 22, 2024, p. B11). The passion, intuition, and insightful vision that Phyllis and Fred Pressman brought to Barneys is exemplified in their collected works.
Collecting the artists of their times, Phyllis and Fred Pressman assembled the best examples from both American and European artists across medias, including Alexander Calder, Lois Dodd, Karel Appel and the artist of the current lot, Okada Kenzo, a Japanese artist who had a luminous career in America. A contemporary and friend of painters like Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline, Kenzo found a symbiosis between Japanese traditions and the avant-garde precepts of the New York School, two apparently divergent styles. He gave new expression to the shimmering color, clarity of form, and philosophical relation to nature, which is so important in the older arts of Japan, by combining these elements with the expansiveness of modern Western abstraction.
Phyllis and Fred Pressman’s cultivation and elegant refinement are on full display across their collection. Having worked passionately at Barneys to make the shopping experience akin to being in someone’s home, Property from the Collection of Phyllis and Fred Pressman now reveals the tasteful curation of their own home.
Collecting the artists of their times, Phyllis and Fred Pressman assembled the best examples from both American and European artists across medias, including Alexander Calder, Lois Dodd, Karel Appel and the artist of the current lot, Okada Kenzo, a Japanese artist who had a luminous career in America. A contemporary and friend of painters like Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline, Kenzo found a symbiosis between Japanese traditions and the avant-garde precepts of the New York School, two apparently divergent styles. He gave new expression to the shimmering color, clarity of form, and philosophical relation to nature, which is so important in the older arts of Japan, by combining these elements with the expansiveness of modern Western abstraction.
Phyllis and Fred Pressman’s cultivation and elegant refinement are on full display across their collection. Having worked passionately at Barneys to make the shopping experience akin to being in someone’s home, Property from the Collection of Phyllis and Fred Pressman now reveals the tasteful curation of their own home.