Books, Exhibits, Objects

Svenskt Tenn Lounge Chair Josef Frank 1940s $3,350 Before his name became synonymous with furniture that comforts body and mind, Josef Frank spent several pivotal years in Berlin, working for the architect Bruno Möhring, meeting his Swedish wife, and receiving his . rst big contract, to furnish the East Asian Museum in Cologne. That was before he fell out with Mies, Corbu, and the rigidity of Modernism, and before he . ed the rise of Fascism. Frank moved to Stockholm to become the first designer for the Swedish interiors company Svenskt Tenn, where he designed almost 2,000 fabrics, lamps, rugs, and furniture pieces, including this rattan chaise. Starting Aug. 19, two concurrent exhibits in Berlin welcome Frank back to and explore his early in. uences. Sharing the show of Frank's pre- and post-war designs are the Swedish Embassy and the new Berlin o. shoot of Jacksons Gallery, the Stockholm-based dealers in 20th-century Scandinavian design. jacksons.se

By Felicity Scott Architects get radical with electronics and environmental politics in this 21st century look back at the Ant Farm. In 1968, the experimental collective chose their name to sound like a rock band, and for 10 years they took the same approach to their work. Crisscrossing the country, Ant Farm unleashed their video art and blobby structures-decades before the introduction of Maya and form-Z-documented and diagrammed here. Actar; $54.95

By Bob Gill and Alastair Reid/By Bob Gill It's been over 45 years since Bob Gill wrote and illustrated children's books that celebrate the whimsy of everyday objects and the punch of saturated color. The graphic designer was also starting Fletcher/Forbes/Gill, the design firm that would grow to become Pentagram. Gill released eight children's books in the 1960s; these two are the first of several that are being restored and rereleased in coming months. Phaidon; $14.95 each

EXHIBIT Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Aug. 5 through Oct. 26 Bernini finished this marble bust of Francesco Barberini in 1623, a year before beginning -at the ripe age of 25-his first architectural project, the bronze baldachin for St. Peter's Basilica. In this comprehensive survey of Bernini's portrait busts-never before collected in one exhibition and the first major show of Bernini's work to land in the U.S.-long-gone sitters almost talk back. getty.edu