Modernist East End house becomes a home for women's art

A half-century ago, Betty Friedan addressed bra-less activists and other women’s lib supporters mingling on the pool deck of one of East Hampton’s storied summer homes. As reported in The New York Times, after thanking the gathering’s hosts — the taxi tycoon Robert Scull and his wife, Ethel (famously captured 36 times in a Warhol silk-screen) — Friedan announced to the high-powered crowd that it was “time to finish the unfinished revolution of American women.”

At least one paying guest, psychiatrist Robert Gould, conceded that while he was all for the feminist cause, he had attended, in part, in the hope of stealing a glimpse of the Pop and Minimalist masterworks inside the Modernist abode, only to learn that the house was securely locked.

Later this month, thanks to the singular vision of the home’s current owner, collector and designer Lisa Perry, its doors will be swung — or more likely slid — wide open. Moreover, the glass-and-steel midcentury architectural gem designed by German émigré architect Paul Lester Weiner will be given its second life as a backdrop for the displaying of art and championing of women.

“The stars were aligned,” said Perry, 64, of the realization of her most recent project. “It’s a small house that was in need of a lot of love and was likely to have been torn down.”

‘Like I was home’

Dressed in white jeans, black V-neck top and a bright red serape, Perry recalled the bleak but fortuitous January day when she first toured the real estate listing and her concept of “Onna House” (“on’na” is Japanese for “woman”) began to take shape. “It gave off these Zen vibes,” she said, sitting in the light-filled living room on a modern interpretation of the classic Windsor chair by London-born New York designer Anna Karlin. “I grew up in a Japanese-inspired house in the suburbs of Chicago. It was almost like I was home.”

Perry, however, already owned a residence in nearby North Haven, bought with her husband, hedge-fund manager Richard Perry, some 25 years ago. “But I fell in love,” she said, citing her attraction to the Scull house’s clean minimalism, attributes that also described her eponymous fashion and lifestyle brand. “I wanted to save and renovate it and then decide how I was going to use it.”

Perry attributes her keen eye and flair for good design to her parents’ creative influence. With the success of her family’s textile business, her father, who was also an Abstract Expressionist-style painter, and her mom, the owner of a local art gallery, purchased a modernist home by architect George Fred Keck — creator of the “House of Tomorrow” at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair — and decorated it with period classics by the likes of Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames.

Moving to Manhattan to study the art and science of textile dyeing at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Perry continued to pursue a long-standing thrift-shop habit. Ultimately the vintage ’60s mod styles she collected, reminiscent of Courrèges and Cardin, inspired her own fashion line featuring color-blocked, A-line dresses and wide-leg trousers. She quickly expanded to childrenswear and home accessories sporting her signature fun, Pop aesthetic.

More recently, the tastemaker designed and sold a Lisa Perry-branded home in Palm Beach, accenting its stark white spaces with chic, sculptural furniture and whimsical décor in eye-popping hues. “I even curated the closet,” she said.

Then the pandemic hit. “I missed interacting with people,” Perry said. “At this point in my life I didn’t need to start a new practice of my own and felt that my highest, best use was to help other women get eyes on their work — to let them shine.”

Perry’s conception of Onna House as a haven and showcase for female artists and artisans emerged from an activism sparked early on. “I came from a very liberal household,” she explained, remembering her mom and older sister as ardent women’s rights activists throughout her childhood. Later, Perry became involved with efforts to correct the gender imbalance in the U.S. Senate and now counts Hillary Clinton — who penned the foreword to her book, “Lisa Perry: Fashion/Home/Design” (Assouline, 2019) — among her close friends.

Local talent

Finding available works by women to add to the couple’s own world-class collection of blue-chip art has often been challenging over the past 35 years, Perry admitted. “Helen Frankenthaler and Lee Krasner were equally, if not more, talented than many of the Abstract Expressionists, but sadly they took a backseat.”

In her quest to bring female artists to the forefront at Onna House, Perry has not only cast her discerning eye as far as the West Coast and even Japan, but decidedly on local talent.

“There are great artists right here in the Hamptons that weren’t on my radar,” she said. “Many of them are not currently represented, and some have felt invisible. It’s heartbreaking to me.”

“Onna House is a great godsend to them,” noted East Hampton antiques dealer Russ Steele of the many East End artists in his own growing stable whom he has introduced to Perry, a longtime client. “It is so special and important what Lisa is doing — instead of tearing down the home, she is giving it new life and giving women artists a platform, a vehicle, in which to be seen.”

Among them is Almond Zigmund (the namesake of a popular Bridgehampton restaurant), whose high-keyed, site-specific collages were applied directly to the kitchen-area walls. An architectonic weaving by her friend Toni Ross (of the flagship East Hampton restaurant Nick and Toni’s) hangs nearby in the main entryway.

“We are a group of women who share a strong circle of friendship and artistic practice,” noted German-born artist Bastienne Schmidt, whose canvas and thread monochrome grids are installed farther along the hallway and in the equally well-curated guest cottage.

To strengthen those ties, Perry has conceived Onna House as a hub for female creatives as well as a place to display their work.

“I want them to leave their studios and literally come for a swim, have tea in the moss garden or gather in the living room for a talk,” she explained.

That intimacy is reinforced by her decision to preserve the rooms’ domesticity instead of transforming them into the spare, white spaces standard for exhibitions. Artist Janet Goleas, represented by two gouaches exploring natural patterns and fractures, is grateful for the unconventional venue.

“Growing up in Chicago, I memorized the galleries of the Art Institute, but always thought to myself, why couldn’t there be a couch, a table lamp?” she mused. “Onna House’s livability transforms your relationship to the art.”

To realize her vision, Perry enlisted female architect Christine Harper, with whom, over the past 23 years, she has collaborated on many projects. “We’ve done retail, residential, Florida, flips — each a moment in time marking where Lisa is,” noted Harper.

A dynamic space

With Onna House, Perry insisted on remaining as true as possible to the original midcentury structure.

“The big word here was ‘restoration,’ ” Harper said. “The house stands on its own and creates opportunities for the collection to inhabit.”

Still, some changes were deemed necessary to facilitate the home’s new mission. A wall between the kitchen and a very small bedroom was removed, for example, to create an informal dining area, with exposed beams and floor-to-ceiling windows installed to strengthen a connection with the refurbished outdoors. The remaining three bedrooms also have been repurposed as work and entertainment spaces, including a tearoom largely commanded by Brooklyn designer Isabel Rower’s aptly titled “Everything Is Blooming Most Recklessly Teapot II” and “Waltz (8),” a vibrant and graceful weaving by Japanese artist Mitsuko Asakura.

As part of Onna House’s inaugural exhibition, opening on May 28, Asakura’s silk-thread creations also will take over adjacent rooms and hallways, interwoven with the other art, furniture and objects in the permanent collection. The studio space attached to the guesthouse will be reserved for Swiss designer Ligia Dias’ DIY-style accessories and “Paper Dress” series, a riff on the late ’60s fashion.

Perry makes it a point to only show or sell work by artists and designers she has purchased for Onna House, further conflating notions of the museum, commercial gallery and collector’s haven.

“If I love someone’s work, I really believe in them enough to own it,” she said.

While Onna House’s rooms are arguably designed to perfection, Perry said she typically envisions each of her selections in three different places throughout the property before purchasing them.

“I have to keep it dynamic,” she explained. “I want people to want to keep on coming back.”