Pair of crosspiece lamps in iron by Jean-Michel Frank

Jean-Michel Frank (1895-1941) was one of the most influential and original designers of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1920s, he developed a following among the Parisian cognoscenti for his elegantly understated furnishings and interiors. Typical of his designs was a radical simplification of form, rendered in texturally rich materials such as limed oak, parchment, straw marquetry, iron and leather.

In 1930, Frank entered into a partnership with Adolph Chanaux, who had already been executing his furniture designs. He acted as creative director for Chanaux & Company, and in 1935 the two would open a boutique under Frank’s name on rue Faubourg-Saint-Honoré dedicated to his designs and those of his artist and architect collaborators, such as Christian Bérard and Emilio Terry. At the decade’s end, the firm closed its doors due to the war, and Frank immigrated to Argentina, where he lived until his untimely death the following year.

The crosspiece lamp is typical of the austere geometries that dominated Frank’s designs of the 1920s. He experimented with a number of materials for this model, including brass, parchment-covered wood, mica, alabaster and iron, such as this example.

Literature:
Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier, Jean-Michel Frank: The Strange and Subtle Luxury of the Parisian Haute-Monde in the Art Deco Period, New York, 2008, pg. 139 and pgs. 201, 250, 252, 271, 302 for other variations/materials
Léopold Diego Sanchez, Jean-Michel Frank: Adolphe Chanaux, Paris, 1997, pgs. 87, 116, 122, 123, 196, 204, 245, 301 for variations/materials