The Enduring Designs of Josef Frank

When: March 17, 2012 - July 8, 2012

Location: 2600 Park Avenue Minneapolis, MN, United States of America

The work of Austrian-born designer and architect Josef Frank (1885–1967) will be on display at the American Swedish Institute (ASI) in Minneapolis from March 17 through July 8 in a traveling exhibition that comes to ASI from the classic Stockholm interiors firm, Svenskt Tenn, via the San Francisco Airport Museum. While many of his contemporaries took a severe approach to modernism, Frank—a pioneer of Swedish Modern design—emphasized comfort and informality, using bright, bold colors and floral patterns to produce whimsical designs inspired by nature. His designs quickly became popular with a host of Swedish designers and clientele. "The Enduring Designs of Josef Frank" presents a remarkable array of textiles and furnishings that Frank produced throughout the course of his career, many of which remain in production today. The objects on exhibition include: Primavera, a pattern designed for his home furnishings business in Vienna in the 1920s; an asymmetrical nineteen-drawer cabinet-on-stand designed in 1938 for Svenskt Tenn; and numerous New York-inspired patterns such as Green Birds and US Tree created during his stay in Manhattan in the 1940s. Estrid Ericson, who established the interior desing company Svenskt Tenn in the 1920s, was impressed by Frank’s work and asked him to design products for her store. The growing rise of Nazism in Vienna, coupled with the city’s economic depression, prompted Frank (who was Jewish) and his Swedish wife to move to Stockholm in 1933. After the German occupation of Denmark and Norway in 1940, the Franks decided to temporarily move to New York City, where Frank created his most innovative and substantial set of textile designs. After the war, the Franks returned to Stockholm where he produced further new furniture designs.   "The Enduring Designs of Josef Frank" will be on display March 17–July 8, 2012, and is included with museum admission ($6 adults, $5 ages 62+, $4 ages 6–18 and students, free for children under 6 and ASI members).

Additional information:
Phone: 612-871-4907
Email: jenns@asimn.org
Website: http://www.asimn.org/ASI/Exhibits.html#frank