Antique French garden bench - Jean-Michel Frank 32¾"

An unusual and captivating garden bench from nineteenth century, France. Artistic in nature, it is attributed to celebrated French interior designer Jean-Michel Franc (1895-1941), and its lovely iron frame casts playful shadows on the ground. A charming time-worn green patina carries throughout the bench and its frame. This would be a stunning addition to any garden space or sunroom to add instant French charm and history to your home.

Jean-Michel Frank, perhaps the most influential French designer of his time, was born in Paris in 1895 to the wealthy and well-known Frank family. His father was the banker Léon Frank, his first cousin Anne Frank’s father Otto Frank. In 1904 he began his education at the Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris, and in 1911 enrolled in law school. This professional course was disrupted by the war and led him to travel the world during the early twenties. In the war’s aftermath, he drew inspiration from Venice, where he fell in with the sophisticated circle drawn to the composer Stravinsky and the choreographer Diaghilev, and then back home, in Paris, from Eugenia Errázuriz, who revealed to him the beauty of 18th-century furniture. In 1924, he designed a set of furniture for Hermès, and the 1930s were marked by a string of professional successes.

In 1932 he and Adolphe Chanaux, his Parisian decorator, opened up a shop at #140 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. This collaboration culminated in illustrious work for both the Rockefellers and the Guerlain's. In 1937 he designed Nelson Rockefeller’s famed Fifth Avenue apartment. It was during this decade that he created many of his most famous designs, including the beautifully simple piece known as the Parsons Table. Known for minimalist interiors decorated with plain-lined but sumptuous furniture, his work has gone on to be celebrated and timeless. (Experts of biography from maison gerard.com)