Cabinet on Stand (2030)

c. 1948

Cabinet on Stand (2030), c. 1948. Josef Frank (Swedish, born Austria, 1885–1967), Svenskt Tenn (Swedish, est. 1924). Mahogany, mahogany veneer, brass; overall: 125 x 69 x 37 cm (49 3/16 x 27 3/16 x 14 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, James Parmelee Fund 2020.69 Mid-20th-century designers of household furnishings looked both to the past for inspiration and the present for practicality. In Sweden, designer Josef Frank modeled his cabinet on stand after earlier Renaissance cabinets lifted high on elaborately carved bases. Frank made the form as simple as possible in order to feature the beauty of the wood itself and the whimsy of his assymetrically placed drawers. As a modern adaptation of an earlier form, this cabinet typifies the principles of Swedish Modern design.