Frank Bros / LB

Frank Bros.: The Store that Modernized Modern, at the University Art Museum at CSULB

Curated by Cara Mullio and Jennifer M. Volland. The exhibition sources the Frank Brothers archives at the Getty Research Institute and the Frank family collection.

Photo: Julius Shulman, Frank Bros.: The Store that Modernized Modern

Unlike the Eames, the Frank Bros. were actually brothers. Maurice and Edward Frank joined forces to continue on with the family's furniture business. They opened Frank Bros in Long Beach in 1938. It was first located in downtown, and then relocated to Long Beach Boulevard, where it remained until 1982. It was one of the great retail entities bringing modern to the masses in post-war America.

A wall of the store's Arts & Architecture magazine ads.

I didn't see this one in the exhibition, but with Maurice Martine, Eero Saarinen and Jens Risom, it's one of my favorites.

Source: Arts & Architecture

Frank Bros aligned themselves with the best architectural projects of the time, like the Mutual Housing Pilot House by A. Quincy Jones, Whitney R. Smith and Edgardo Contini. They brought the best to the Pilot House. There's Greta Grossman, Stan Hawk, and Maurice Martine.

Source: Arts & Architecture

Pilot House interior

Source: Arts & Architecture

It doesn't get much better than this.

Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute

Arts & Architecture editor John Entenza went to Frank Bros for the magazine's Case Study House program. Here is CSH 23 TRIAD in La Jolla, by Edward Killingsworth.

Source: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute

The Frank Bros delivery truck in front of CSH 23. Those are Shulman mark ups on the photo.

Source: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute via Modern San Diego

Ed also put his money where his house is. He hired Killingsowrth to design his own home, Case Study House 25.

Killingsworth was also hired to remodel the Frank Bros showroom.

CSH 25

Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute

It's no surprise where the furniture came from. This is the list from Arts & Architecture.

More on CSH 25, here

The Scandi invasion came in the late 1950s. These pieces come directly from the Frank family home.

Dansk Kobenstyle. A modern pot in every house.

Ephemera is gold

Frank Bros also hosted a number of exhibitions at the store. In 1968 they held one on Eames.

There's no doubt they sold a lot of Eames over the years. However, they did not sell any La Chaise lounges. Vitra didn't start producing them until 1990. Other than that, there was only one and MoMA NY has it.

Frank Bros window display. The book says the photo is from 1969, but that sure looks like like an early round DCM frame mount on the right. The grain on the DCW is incredible. Yeah I know, Eames dorks are annoying.

Photo: Frank Bros.: The Store that Modernized Modern