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Josef Frank Side Chairs

Austrian, 1885-1967

Austrian architect and furniture and fabric designer Josef Frank was a leading voice for a gentle, humane modernism. His advocacy of warm, comfortable, eclectically styled environments was highly influential in his adopted country of Sweden, and it’s now widely regarded as a harbinger of the backlash against doctrinaire modernism and the embrace of the homespun that occurred in the late 1960s.

The son of a successful Viennese textile manufacturer, Frank studied architecture at Vienna University of Technology, graduating in 1910. From the first years of his practice, he marched counter to the orderly, symmetrical architectural layouts and decors prescribed by contemporaries such as Adolf Loos.

Frank drafted rooms of varying shapes and called for flexible interior-design arrangements. His furniture pieces are light and easy to move — and his chairs are always made of wood, most often with lushly curved steam-bent arms and slatted backs. Frank openly loathed the tubular steel furnishings and “machine for living” aesthetic promoted by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and other Bauhaus principals. “The home must not be a mere efficient machine,” Frank once said. “It must offer comfort, rest and coziness…. There are no puritan principles in good interior decoration.”

Frank — who was Jewish — sensed the dire implications of the rise of Nazism in Germany and Austria, and in 1933 he moved to Stockholm with his Swedish wife, Anna. He became the design chief for the furnishings maker Svenskt Tenn and found a perfect match culturally for his brand of simple, relaxed and bright creations. Like many modernists — notably Charles and Ray Eames and Alexander Girard — Frank had a deep love of folk art, which influenced his designs for a wide array of colorful, richly patterned upholstery fabrics, many based on the classic “Tree of Life” motif.

In all his designs, Frank took inspiration from a broad variety of sources. In his furniture, one can discern traces of Asian patterns, Rococo, Italian Renaissance, Scandinavian handicrafts and even Chippendale pieces. As such, the work of Frank — the friendly modernist — is at home in any type of décor.

Find vintage Josef Frank pillows, armchairs, floor lamps and other furniture on 1stDibs.

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Creator: Josef Frank
Two Original J.Hoffmann & Oswald Haerdtl Chairs Art Deco New Fabric Josef Frank
By Josef Hoffmann, Josef Frank, Oswald Haerdtl
Located in Vienna, AT
Created by Josef Hoffmann and Oswald Haerdtl for the Otto Beyer fashion style pattern store in Vienna, Singerstrasse 14 which is shown on one of the images. Fabric "Notturno," design...
Category

1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Chairs

Materials

Fabric, Beech

Josef Frank Side Chair Easy Chair Model 2067 for Svenskt Tenn circa 1948 Sweden
By Svenskt Tenn, Josef Frank
Located in Vienna, AT
Josef Frank side chair or easy chair model no. 2067 from walnut and fabric for Svenskt Tenn 1947, Sweden. A fabulous side chair or easy chair designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Ten...
Category

1940s Swedish Vintage Josef Frank Side Chairs

Materials

Fabric, Walnut

1950s Pair of Caned Prague Dining Chairs, Model 811, by Josef Frank for Thonet
By Thonet, Josef Frank
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is a Pair of Caned 811 Dining Chairs, initially designed by Josef Frank for Michael Thonet in 1920. This pair of chairs dates to the 1950s. The chairs have a pressed Vienna Brai...
Category

1950s Polish Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Chairs

Materials

Bentwood, Cane, Braid

Two Original J.Hoffmann & Oswald Haerdtl Chairs Art Deco New Fabric Josef Frank
By Oswald Haerdtl, Josef Frank, Josef Hoffmann
Located in Vienna, AT
Created by Josef Hoffmann and Oswald Haerdtl for the Otto Beyer fashion style pattern store in Vienna, Singerstrasse 14 which is shown on one of the images. Fabric "Notturno," design...
Category

1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Chairs

Materials

Fabric, Beech

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He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, a radical anti-historicist movement, and together with Koloman Moser created the Wiener Werkstatte cooperative workshop. A highly individualistic architect and designer, Hoffmann's work combined the simplicity of craft production with a refined aesthetic ornament. Between 1901 and 1905, he designed four villas in Vienna and a sanatorium in Brussels that was called “Stoclet House”, for which he developed a “cubistic” language of form, with an emphasis on straight, unadorned lines. In 1905, he established the Kunstschau with painter Gustav Klimt and, two years later, founded the Deutscher Werkbund. Hoffmann worked well into his 80s, continuing to use the geometric motifs that influenced the art deco style of the 1920s. In 1928 his work appeared in the Art in Industry exhibition held at Macy’s in New York City, where it exerted a strong influence on American designer Donald Deskey. 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Previously Available Items
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Pair of Rare Josef Frank Sidechairs
Pair of Rare Josef Frank Sidechairs
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Josef Frank side chairs for sale on 1stDibs.

Josef Frank side chairs are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Josef Frank side chairs, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider side chairs by Nordiska Kompaniet, Yngve Ekström, and Carl Malmsten. Prices for Josef Frank side chairs can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $4,974 and can go as high as $4,974, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $4,974.