Josef Frank gathered many of his print motifs directly from nature while others came from illustrations in his collection of field manuals. He found his inspiration for the Butterfly print, with butterflies, dragonflies and beetles grouped around small ponds and butterflies, in the books Butterflies of America and Insects of America. Josef Frank designed this print in 1943-1945.
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Designer
Josef Frank
Josef Frank grew up in Vienna and studied architecture at Technische Hochschule (the Vienna University of Technology) in 1903 – 1908. In the 1920s he designed housing estates and large residential blocks built around common courtyards in a Vienna with severe housing shortages. In 1925, he founded the Haus & Garten interior firm together with architect colleague Oskar Wlach. Svenskt Tenn hired Josef Frank in 1934 and just a few years later he and Estrid Ericson made their international breakthrough. Although he was already 50 when he left the burgeoning Nazism in Vienna for Sweden, Frank is considered one of Sweden’s most important designers. Read more