Josef Frank | |
|---|---|
 Josef Frank, circa 1960 | |
| Born | 15 July 1885 Baden bei Wien, Austria |
| Died | 8 January 1967 (aged 81) Stockholm, Sweden |
| Nationality | Austrian-Swedish |
| Alma mater | Vienna University of Technology |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Leopoldine-Glöckel-Hof, Vienna |
Josef Frank (15 July 1885 – 8 January 1967) was an Austrian-born architect, artist, and designer who adopted Swedish citizenship in the latter half of his life. Together with Oskar Strnad, he created the Vienna School of Architecture, and its concept of Modern houses, housing and interiors.
Frank was of Jewish ancestry. His parents, merchant Ignaz (Isak) Frank (1851–1921, Vienna) and the Vienna-born Jenny (1861–1941), were originally from Heves in Hungary. He designed his parents' grave in the old Jewish section of Vienna's Central Cemetery (Group 19, Row 58, Grave No.52).[1] He studied architecture at the Vienna University of Technology. He then taught at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1919 to 1925. He was a founding member of the Vienna Werkbund, initiator and leader of the 1932 project Werkbundsiedlung in Vienna. In 1933, he emigrated to Sweden, where he gained citizenship in 1939. He was the most prestigious designer in the Stockholm design company Svenskt Tenn (Swedish Pewter), recruited by the founder of the company, Estrid Ericson. He remained in Sweden after 1945 despite attempts to return him to Vienna. The Vienna Circle manifesto lists three of his publications[2][3][4] in a bibliography of closely related authors. Politically Frank believed in socialism.[5]
He was also the brother of the physicist, mathematician, and philosopher Philipp Frank.
Josef Frank dealt early on with public housing and housing estates. Contrary to most other architects of the interwar period in Vienna, he took the idea of settlement and not the creation of so-called super blocks in the municipal housing. He also rejected facade decor and clearly preferred functional forms. The Viennese architect and furniture designer Luigi Blau refers to him as one of his idols. In addition to his architectural work he created numerous designs for furniture, furnishings, fabrics, wallpaper and carpet. He has been a painter, as well.[6]
An exhibition of his textile designs is to be held from January to May 2017, at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.[7]
