WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Josef Frank

Josef Frank

Austrian-Swedish, 1885–1967

WA-00027147

PrintmakingContemporary

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ93847 ULAN500011201

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Modern Rooms of the Last Fifty Years

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1946–1947

Field Verification (3 fields)

3 cross-verified · 0 single-source

Birth yearDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
Death yearDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
NationalityDuplicate Merge· 85%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/1971
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Josef Frank was a Swedish architect and designer whose furniture, textiles, and interiors synthesized modernist principles with decorative sensibility, resisting the austerity of his contemporaries. Working across multiple decades and geographies, he developed a distinctive vocabulary that bridged functionalism and ornament through pattern, form, and material. His approach established an alternative modernism in which decoration and utility coexisted without compromise.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Contemporary

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago Cleveland Museum of Art

Canonical record

Artworks (19)

Hawai (Dress or Furnishing Fabric)

1980 · Linen, plain weave; screen printed

209.8 × 132.6 cm (8 1/2 × 52 1/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Botany

1946 · Linen; screenprinted

281.9 × 124.5 cm (111 × 49 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Vegetable Tree (Dress or Furnishing Fabric)

1944 · Linen, plain weave; screen printed

210.6 × 132.5 cm (83 × 52 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Baranquilla

1943 · Plain weave bleached linen, loom width, printed

Overall: 198.1 x 128 cm (78 x 50 3/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

Under Ekvatorn (Beneath the Equator)

1941 · Plain weave bleached linen, loom width, printed

Overall: 192.4 x 127 cm (75 3/4 x 50 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Anakreon (Dress or Furnishing Fabric)

1937 · Cotton, satin weave; screen printed

208.1 × 134 cm (82 × 52 3/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Side Chair

1933 · Oak frame with leather seat and back

32 1/2 x 17 x 14 3/4" (82.5 x 43.2 x 37.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Nesting Tables

1933 · Wood and linoleum

.1: 21 1/2 x 14 x 21 1/2" (54.6 x 35.5 x 54.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Side Chair

1933 · Wood and leather

35 1/4 x 18 3/4 x 17 3/4" (89.5 x 47.6 x 45.1 cm)

49 in. × 18 ft. 7 1/2 in. (124.5 × 567.7 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Adjustable Floor Lamp (model 1842)

1932 · Enameled steel and brass

53 × 19 11/16" (134.6 × 50 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Tulpaner (Dress or Furnishing Fabric)

1930 · Linen, plain weave; screen printed

211.4 × 129.3 cm (83 1/8 × 51 in.); Warp repeat: H.: 74.8 cm (51 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Flora [II]

1925 · Cotton: plain weave, printed, loom width

Overall: 50.7 x 127 cm (19 15/16 x 50 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

A-

Antscha - Pink and Blue

1925 · Plain weave paired cotton warp and unbleached linen weft, loom width, block printed

Overall: 73.7 x 128.9 cm (29 x 50 3/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

A-

Antscha - Yellow and Green

1925 · Cotton: paired plain weave warp; linen: unbleached weft; loom width, block printed

Overall: 72.4 x 128.9 cm (28 1/2 x 50 3/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

Fatima

1925 · cotton: plain weave, loom width, block printed

Overall: 76.8 x 137.8 cm (30 1/4 x 54 1/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Primavera (Dress or Furnishing Fabric)

1920 · Linen, plain weave; screen printed

209.5 × 131.7 cm (82 1/2 × 51 3/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Ret Hügel (Ret Hill)

1920 · Cotton: plain weave, printed, loom width

Overall: 76.2 x 137.8 cm (30 x 54 1/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

,Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence H. White

Museum of Modern Art

View all 19 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

19 published of 23 catalogued · 13 with image

Cleveland Museum of Art
7 published
Art Institute Chicago
6 published6 img
MoMA
5 publishedof 9 catalogued7 img
The Met
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 7)

7 entries · 1 sources

Fatima
1925 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Ret Hügel (Ret Hill)
1920 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Under Ekvatorn (Beneath the Equator)
1941 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Antscha - Pink and Blue
1925 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Antscha - Yellow and Green
1925 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Baranquilla
1943 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Flora [II]
1925 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Movements1

Contemporary

Collections4

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago Cleveland Museum of Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Modern Rooms of the Last Fifty Years

New York · 1946