Liz O'Brien, Modern Design and Decorative Arts

Liz O’Brien’s new showroom, her third in 17 years, covers 2,400 square feet with chocolate-brown lacquered floors in a ground-level space on East 61st Street.
“People who come here sit down and hang out for a while, and on Fifth Avenue it wasn’t like that,” said Ms. O’Brien, who specializes in 20th-century decorative arts. “I thought it was a sign of the times, that people were too busy. But now I’m thinking it might be the space itself.”
- from Rima Suqi's "Currents" column

The Tower of Power
Rediscoveries Power: Liz O'Brien
- from "The Faces of Power" article in the Power issue

"People want decorator-driven goods; they tend to buy pedigree," says Sotheby's Mary Cunningham, adding that the enthusiastic turnout reflects the increase in Americans' design literacy. Among the names particularly sought after, she says is T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings... elegance pared to the bone. At Liz O'Brien...
- from Adam Hanft's article "Live Well"

Liz O'Brien sells the sort of swank that will probably never go out of style: Chairs from the mansions of men whose names are still affixed to Hollywood studios. Pagoda lamps by Tony Duquette. Screens from The King and I. "I like theatrical fantasy furniture," says O'Brien, whose taste for raunchy reds is informed by Yves Saint Laurent's exuberant palette. 
- from Alexandra Lange's article "Miss Scarlet" with photographs by Fernando Bengoechea

"Liz O'Brien is my idea of a perfect dealer. Passionate about the American decorative arts from the late '30s through the '50s, she is also a tireless sleuth, researching the history of her beautiful acquisitions.... Liz's new Fifth Avenue store (in the old Pierre Cardin space) is the perfect showcase for that glorious period of American style.... The chic of it all!"
- from Carolina Irving's column "Then and Now"

The book's [Ultramodern: Samuel Marx, Architect, Designer, Art Collector by Liz O'Brien] biggest surprise, though, isn't the range of Marx's accomplishments but rather the steady vision that combines a bon vivant's delight in the moment with a connoisseur's passion for the best of the past.

- from Douglas Brenner's book review "Marxism" in T Magazine's Fall 2007 Design issue

O'Brien is a new-deal collector, burgeoning towards A-list fame. Her name is mentioned often, everyone is abuzz with the soft-spoken brunette who opened her ultra-hip gallery... in 1993.

- from Kathryn Brookshire's article "Objects of Her Desire"