Josef Frank Writings

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A01=Josef Frank
Accidentism
Adolf Loos
architecture
Author_Josef Frank
Botanical motifs
Cabinet 522
Category=AMA
Category=AMB
Category=DNP
Comfort
Cozy Modernism
criticism
Eclectic design
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Estrid Ericson
Exotic Butterfly
Floral prints
forthcoming
Functional comfort
Furniture design
Hawaii design
housing
Humanist Functionalism
Informal layouts
Large-scale patterns
Liljevalchs Sofa
Modern movement
modernism
Patterns and Textiles
philosophy of architecture
Svenskt Tenn
Swedish design
Tree of Life motif
Variety
Vegetable Tree
Vibrant colors
Vienna
Vienna Werkbund
Wicker and wood
Wiener Moderne
WWII

Product details

  • ISBN 9781954600492
  • Weight: 2422g
  • Dimensions: 177 x 254mm
  • Publication Date: 22 Oct 2026
  • Publisher: DoppelHouse Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
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A two-volume compendium of Josef Frank’s culturally critical, often witty and biting texts on modernism and architecture, offered for the first time in a complete bilingual edition alongside many of the original illustrations.

For more than five decades, from the 1910s to the early 1960s, Josef Frank was one of the leading figures of Modernism and, at the same time, one of its sharpest critics. In his many essays and articles, as well as in his book Architecture as Symbol, Frank sought to expose the layers of meaning—and the flaws—of Modernism, its underlying assumptions, and what he viewed as its often misguided implementations. Above all, this internationally renowned architect strove to reclaim for modern design some of the freedom it had lost through its dogmatization.

Editors Tano Bojankin, Christopher Long, and Iris Meder, along with award-winning Austrian designer Peter Duniecki, have compiled all available published texts by Josef Frank on these subjects into a beautiful, highly readable, collectible German/English two-volume set. Introduced by one of America's leading architects, Denise Scott Brown, the extensive written oeuvre of Josef Frank is made accessible to both bibliophiles and a wider public interested in modernism, architecture, and one of its most influential critics.

Josef Frank (15 July 1885 – 8 January 1967) was an Austrian and later Swedish, architect, artist, and designer. Together with Oskar Strnad, he created a concept of Modern houses, architecture, and interior design style based on comfort and ease. Known for his large colorful patterns and cozy interiors, Frank was a critic of Le Corbusier and the steel and glass modernism of the Bauhaus. After leaving Austria due to rising antisemitism, Josef Frank started working at Swedish interior design store Svenskt Tenn in 1934, where he became a key figure in shaping the company's design identity. During World War II, with the threat of Germany invading Sweden, Frank fled to New York, where he lived and taught at The New School between 1941–1945. He is today considered one of the most important Swedish designers. Beyond his pioneering architectural work, Frank was a cultural design critic, whose pragmatic approach to design and living highlighted the social experience as much as the aesthetic one. His works were prized and collected by Prince Eugen of Sweden and are presently featured throughout many prominent public art collections, including at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the MAK in Vienna, the Röhsska museet in Göteborg, Sweden, and many others. His influence continues to be felt around the world.

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