Swedish Rug by Josef Frank (Flora) Decorated with Illustrations from the Book Svenskteam BB8107 12'10" × 16'5" $80,000

Swedish rug designed by Josef Frank.

Josef Frank 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.

Josef Frank was of Jewish ancestry. His parents, merchant Ignaz (Isak) Frank and the Vienna-born Jenny, were originally from Heves in Hungary. He designed his parents’ grave in the old Jewish section of Vienna’s Central Cemetery. He studied architecture at the Vienna University of Technology. He then taught at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1919 to 1925.