were no longer living.” When creating a new piece, he often began by considering how a particular type — chairs, for example — had been made before, and which of their elements might still be “usable.” Sometimes this would take the form of a particular detail — Frank was fond using of 18th-century English hardware; sometimes he would adapt an entire piece, like his recasting of one of the Egyptian stools found in Tutankhamen’s tomb, which Frank considered an example of perfect design. He combined these still viable features with new components, producing works that were inherently new while retaining some of the qualities of fine historical pieces. Frank was particularly interested in maintaining the feel of antique surfaces. Though he was dedicated to producing “modern” designs, he remained wary of employing some new materials. He rejected tubular steel (then a popular material for modern chairs and tables), for example, because he thought it lacked the sensuous and warm touch of fine wood.
Such considerations did not prevent him from experimenting with radical new forms. Throughout his three decades in Sweden, Frank continued to mine both the past and the present for ideas. But he also generated many entirely novel designs. He did so in some cases through attenuation or reduction (using very thin members was a staple in the modernist vocabulary), but he also investigated complex “organic” forms and rounded contours.
In the late 1930s, around the time of the New York World’s Fair, Frank’s work began to evince marked changes. For one, he started experimenting with free-form and abstract designs, especially for carpets. He also started to employ non-orthogonal shapes, such as his design for the kidney-shaped desk in his Swedish Pavilion installation. Such forms, of course, would become common in the 1950s, but in the years before World War II, this was an entirely new idea.
Perhaps most important for Frank’s evolving design language, however, was a series of textile designs he made in the early 1940s. Fearing that the Nazis might invade Sweden, he and his wife fled to New York in 1941, arriving not long after the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor. Frank taught evening courses on art and architecture at the New School for Social Research, but he spent much of his time designing lamps and textile patterns. Estrid Ericson, who was no longer able to import textiles
(SIDEBAR)
Collecting Josef Frank
In the years between his arrival in Sweden in 1934 and his death in 1967, Josef Frank produced more than 2,000 designs for Svenkst Tenn. The company is still in business today, operated as a non-profit. More than a hundred of Frank’s designs are still in production, including many of his textile designs. They can be purchased at the company’s shop at Strandvägen 5 in Stockholm or through its website:
www.svenskttenn.se.
Frank’s earlier designs often come up at auction in Europe and the United States. His later pieces or those that were produced in large numbers now fetch prices in the hundreds and low thousands. More important Frank designs, such as his early cabinets and sofas now sell for far more, some of the best for well over $50,000. Frank’s designs for Haus & Garten in Vienna are more rare and come on the market far less frequently. In recent auctions in Vienna, his Haus & Garten designs have sold for more than $10,000.
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