Contributions by Tano Bojankin, Caterina Cardamone, Hermann Czech Otto Kapfinger Claudia Mazanek, and Christopher Long
Designed by Peter Duniecki

265 pages.
October 2026

9781954600522

$55.00  | Pre-orders open now!

Previously unpublished, Josef Frank’s searching essays on art and modernism find trends of totalitarianism in European aesthetics have crossed into the United States.

Reflections on the Art of Our Time is  Josef Frank‘s (1885–1967) previously unpublished analysis of cultural developments since the fin de siècle. Frank believed that modern art and design had fallen prey to totalitarian and dictatorial currents in Europe, which culminated in the Second World War. He also observed that these same disturbing trends were spreading to the United States, where he was then living in exile, teaching and writing. Frank’s “Letter to the Editor” concerning Piet Mondrian, written on the occasion of the latter’s major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, which is also included in this work, exemplifies Frank’s concerns about the development of contemporary modernism. Edited and with contributions from Tano Bojankin, Caterina Cardamone, Hermann Czech, Christopher Long, Claudia Mazanek, along with an extended article by Otto Kapfinger.

Includes full-color reproductions of Frank’s letters and notes, photographs, and maps.

PRAISE

“[Frank] wasn’t really an architect … [as much as] an intellectual, who built ideas.” 
—Ernest Plischke

“The great humanist in modern architecture and design.” 
—Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, director, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (MAK), New York

“The importance of Frank’s architecture, not least … elements of his work that were considered odd by his contemporaries, like nostalgia and improvisation, have been embraced by successive generations of architects, including Denise Scott Brown and Rem Koolhaas. His commitment to affordable housing is especially timely given its popularity among young design activists.”
—The New York Times, “The Anti-Design Designer,” January 19, 2016

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josef Frank (15 July 1885 – 8 January 1967) was an Austrian and later Swedish, architect, artist, and designer. Together with Oskar Strnad, he created a concept of Modern houses, architecture, and interior design style based on comfort and ease. Known for his large colorful patterns and cozy interiors, Frank was a critic of Le Corbusier and the steel and glass modernism of the Bauhaus. After leaving Austria due to rising antisemitism, Josef Frank started working at Swedish interior design store Svenskt Tenn in 1934, where he became a key figure in shaping the company’s design identity. During World War II, with the threat of Germany invading Sweden, Frank fled to New York, where he lived and taught at The New School between 1941–1945. He is today considered one of the most important Swedish designers. Beyond his pioneering architectural work, Frank was a cultural design critic, whose pragmatic approach to design and living highlighted the social experience as much as the aesthetic one. His influence continues to be felt around the world.