Paul T. Frankl: Autobiography

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Paul T. Frankl

Doppelhouse Press, Los Angeles, 2013, English

Nonfiction, Architecture

6 x 9 inches, hardcover, 251 pages 85 black-and-white illustrations

ISBN: 9780983254027

Suggested Retail Price: $29.95

Viennese émigré Paul T. Frankl (1886-1958) was one of the pioneers of early modern design in the United States known for his “Skyscraper” furniture of the 1920s, his work for New York trend-setters and the Hollywood élite in the 1930s and early 1940s, as well as his many original pieces in rattan and work for the Johnson Furniture Company. A prolific and influential writer about design, Frankl was the author of five books, including Form and Re-Form (1930) and Machine-Made Leisure (1932). When Frankl died of cancer in 1958, he left his nearly complete autobiography. This never-before published work, written at the end of Frankl’s long career in a captivating style, is a vivid account of his early life, his rise in the profession, and his many travels in search of ideas and forms. Accompanying Frankl’s text are eighty-five photographs and drawings, many of which have never previously been published. The book also includes an introduction by the noted design scholar Christopher Long and a remembrance written by his daughter Paulette Frankl.

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