Josef Frank
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a secretaire, Vienna ca 1920-22.
Veneered with walnut and other kinds of wood, brass handles and fittings, interior with drawers, the lower part with five drawers and a hinged door. Height 102,5 cm, length 97 cm, depth 52,5 cm. Key included.
Minor veneer damages and retouches.
Provenance
Dagmar Grill, born 1892, was the daughter of Baltzar and Violet Grill in Djursholm, Stockholm (they were very good friends with the artist Carl Larsson and his wife Karin. Dagmar was once painted by Carl Larsson).
Baltzar Grill ordered this piece of furniture from Josef Frank in Vienna in order to give it as a gift to Dagmar. Thence by descent.
Literature
The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art 1924, Herbert Reiach Ltd, London, depicted on p 117 as an "Escritoire by Dr Josef Frank".
Marlene Ott-Wodni, Bölau Verlag Wien, 2015, "Josef Frank 1885-1967", p 239, catalogue number M-WV 27.
More information
This piece of furniture is a really early piece by Josef Frank, designed already before he started his company Haus & Garten together with Oskar Wlach in 1925.
It is interesting to see that the interior in this particular piece of furniture forbodes the cabinets he later designs in Sweden for Firma Svenskt Tenn.
Designer
Josef Frank was born in Austria and studied architecture in Vienna. As an architect, he worked with private home areas, villas and apartment buildings. In 1925 he started his own interior design firm Haus und Garten together with two architect colleagues. In connection with the advance of the Nazis, he emigrated to Sweden and was employed in 1934 at Svenskt Tenn. After the outbreak of World War II, Josef Frank, who came from a Jewish family, was forced into exile in New York. At Svenskt Tenn, he made an impact on the product range for four decades; especially when it comes to furniture and fabric prints.
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