Jean-Michel Frank

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jean-Michel Frank (born February 28, 1895 in Paris , † March 8, 1941 in Manhattan ) was a French furniture designer.

Life

Jean-Michel Frank was one of the three sons of Leon and Nanette Frank and thus a distant relative of Anne Frank , since his father Leon was a brother of Michael Frank, the father of Otto Heinrich Frank . As a student at the Lycée Janson de Sailly , he met Léon Pierre Quint and René Crevel .

After Frank's brothers Oscar and Georges fell in World War I in 1915 , his father committed suicide by throwing himself out of a window. Jean-Michel Frank's mother Nanette had to be admitted to a mental hospital, where she died in 1919. In 1918, Jean-Michel Frank, who worked briefly for a businessman in Paris, made friends with Pierre Drieu la Rochelle and Louis Aragon . In 1921 he furnished an apartment for Drieu La Rochelle; soon afterwards he received commissions from Charles Peignot and Nancy Cunard . In 1926 he became known through an order from the Noailles ; from 1930 he held a leading position at the Chanaux Company and in 1932 he and Adolphe Chanaux opened a shop at 140 rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré in Paris. He had his apartment on rue de Verneuil 7. Fashion designers like Lucien Lelong , Robert Piguet , Marcel Rochas and Elsa Schiaparelli had their studios designed by Frank. Edouard Bourdet let him furnish his pieces. From 1930 Frank was a client for Alberto and Diego Giacometti , who designed decorative objects for him.

In September 1939 the Frank & Chanaux Company closed.

Jean-Michel Frank, who grew up in Paris and had traveled a lot - including Venice - fled the Germans in July 1940, first to Argentina , then to New York, as he was doubly endangered as a Jew and a homosexual. There he threw himself out of a window in his Manhattan apartment on March 8, 1941. Jean Cocteau , with whom he was friends, compared his death to the "falling of a curtain between the world of light and the world of darkness".

Works

Jean-Michel Frank was a well-known furniture designer. He preferred the simple shapes and clear lines of the Art Deco style , which he combined with luxurious materials. Furniture is still made today according to his designs.

Frank is considered one of the most influential designers in Paris in the 1930s and inspired, for example, Andree Putman . His designs were copied by numerous furniture manufacturers. For his part, he was influenced by people like Robert Mallet-Stevens . He became famous for furnishing the apartment of Viscount Charles de Noailles and his wife Marie-Laure de Noailles at 11 place des Etats-Unis in Paris. Later, under the influence of contemporary artists, his style became less radical.

Frank furnished an apartment for the millionaire Templeton Crocker ; other wealthy customers were Jorge Born and Nelson Rockefeller .

exhibition

Furniture by Jean-Michel Frank was exhibited at the Fondation Pierre Bergé in 2009.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Hohl: Chronicle of life . In: Angela Schneider: Giacometti . Prestel, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7913-3870-5 , p. 16
  2. ↑ Mirjam Pressler : "Greetings and kisses to all." The story of the Anne Frank family. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-10-022303-6 , p. 194
  3. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Furniture-designer-with-French-charm. Furniture-by-Jean-Michel-Frank. )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / beste.welt.de
  4. ↑ Jean-Michel Frank (French, 1895-1941). In: artnet
  5. ↑ Armchair + Sofa Jean Michel Frank, 1930 ( Memento from December 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Article Frank )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.architecturaldigest.com
  7. ^ Christopher Holt: Jean-Michel Frank at Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent. ( Memento from November 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Beate Berger: Review An almost forgotten designer is rediscovered In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of November 13, 2016
  9. ↑ Maarten van Buuren: A space for the soul. Table of contents, excerpt (pdf)
personal data
SURNAME Frank, Jean-Michel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French furniture designer
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1941
Place of death Manhattan