509: GEORGE NAKASHIMA, Rare Double Chest of Drawers with desk < Modern Design, 23 September 2022 < Auctions

Phyllis and Seymour Lifschutz and the Nakashima Family

by Mira Nakashima

Seymour Lifschutz was a physician who lived in an apartment above his office in New Brunswick, NJ, and began furnishing his office with Nakashima in the 1950s. Phyllis, his wife, loved, appreciated, and collected art of all kinds, had studied art, and was a fine painter herself. They had a daughter, Lorie, who went into interior design, and a son named William who went into beekeeping in Oregon and still resides there.

Seymour and Phyllis had a number of special pieces designed and made for their upstairs apartment in New Brunswick, including a very long cabinet made in three parts beneath a picture window in their living room, and an East Indian laurel dining table similar to the one my father made for Nelson Rockefeller. Soon their entire house was furnished in Nakashima, but as New Brunswick was not as pleasant a place to live as it had been, they moved to the Princeton area. After much searching, they found a house into which everything fit, including the long cabinet which had to be stacked, rather than placed side-by-side as they were originally.

My cousin, John Terry Nakashima, interviewed Phyllis in the Nakashima documentary. She spoke fondly of my father, recalling how she would let him choose the best piece of wood and design the best piece of furniture for each spot in their house, and remarking on how pleased and surprised they were when the furniture finally arrived and fit perfectly into their intended spaces. Unlike many other clients, Phyllis and Seymour respected the artist’s judgement, and because my father liked them, he would often give them choice pieces of wood he refused to sell to other clients. When I was very young, my parents would take us all to a New York City doctor they trusted but, after getting to know Dr. Lifschutz, we all went to him for our yearly check-ups for many years.

My parents became good friends with the Lifschutzes and they would often invite us over to their house. Phyllis was an excellent cook, and they had many other interesting friends. They would also come to visit us, especially after the Reception House was built, and my mother or father would cook for them. After my parents both died, they unofficially adopted my husband, Jon, and me and would invite us to join them at their favorite Chinese restaurant or to share a beautiful meal at their home in Princeton. Seymour once told us that my mother had a vision of “the world according to Marion” and it was a relief to know that someone besides me recognized this part of my mother’s personality. In addition to purchasing many pieces of special furniture for their home, they took very good care of it, as there are order records for over 50 pints of rubbing oil!