Throughout his extraordinary career in architecture and interior design, Austrian Josef Frank (1885-1967) charted an original and complex version of modernism that expressed a unique view of the modern home, the single-family house, and its furnishings. This book - the first in English to analyze and interpret Frank’s many achievements - brings his contributions out of obscurity and reveals the full scope of his alternative interpretation of the modern movement. In addition to ten essays on Frank’s life and work, this book includes illustrations of 135 of Frank’s architectural, furniture, and fabric designs, shown primarily in color. They trace his development as an architect and designer, from his early days in Vienna through his years in exile in Stockholm and New York. A selected list of his buildings, projects, and interior designs is found in the appendix.
Susan Weber Soros
Preface
Ann Wall
Introduction
Nina Stritzler-Levine
1. Three Visions of the Modern Home: Josef Frank, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto
Nina Stritzler-Levine
2. The Consequences of Catastrophe: Josef Frank and Post-World-War-I Vienna
Leon Botstein
3. The Wayward Heir: Josef Frank’s Vienna Years, 1885-1933
Christopher Long
4. Life in Exhile: Josef Frank in Sweden and the United States, 1933-1967
Krisrin Wangberg-Eriksson
5. Space for Living: The Architecture of Josef Frank
Christopher Long
6. Architektur als Symbol: Theory and Polemic
Karin Lindegren
7. “Steel is not a Raw Material; Steel is a Weltanschauung”: The Early Furniture Designs of Josef Frank, 1910-1933
Christian Witt-Dorring
8. “Convenience and Pleasantness”: Josef Frank and the Swedish Modern Movement in Deisgn
Penny Parks
9. Josef Frank and Gio Ponti: Reflections on the “House” and the “Garden,” A View from Italy
Marianna Lamonaca
10. Geometry in Disguise: A Modernist’s Vision of Textile Design
Kristina Wangberg-Eriksson
Catalogue of the Exhibition
Appendix: Josef Frank’s Architectural and Design Projects
Compiled by Christopher Long
Bibliography
Index
