Reflections on the Art of Our Time

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 influence continues to be felt around the world.

"[Frank] wasn't really an architect ... [as much as] an intellectual, who built ideas." —Ernest Plischke"The great humanist in modern architecture and design." —Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, director, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (MAK), New York"The importance of Frank’s architecture, not least ... elements of his work that were considered odd by his contemporaries, like nostalgia and improvisation, have been embraced by successive generations of architects, including Denise Scott Brown and Rem Koolhaas. His commitment to affordable housing is especially timely given its popularity among young design activists." —The New York Times, "The Anti-Design Designer," January 19, 2016

• Christopher Long : IntroductionJosef FrankReflections on the art of our time 1 | Introduction2 | Aesthetic World View 3 | Art and Science4 | Art and Society5 | Abstract Art6 | Architecture as Art 7 | Arts and Crafts and SuperstitionsJosef FrankOn MondrianOn Josef Frank's unpublished writingsHermann Czech : Against Modernity | Motivations of a RejectionCaterina Cardamone : A chronology of the archive materialTano Bojankin : Josef Frank's Paths and Places | A ResearchOtto Kapfinger : Living in the attic: space without intention, comfort in randomnessClaudia Mazanek : Editorial NotesShort biographiesSelected bibliography IndexThanks, illustration credits Imprint