Jean-Michel Frank : une aventure sud-américaine

During his career, Jean-Michel Frank (1895–1941) worked for clients from prominent North and South American families, including Winnaretta Singer, Elsie de Wolfe, Nancy Cunard, Luis Maria Carreras Saavedra, and Felisa de Santamarina.

A Chilean friend of Picasso's, Eugenia Errazuriz, a Francophile and lover of modern art, paved the way in America for the famous Parisian decorator and his team of friends, including Giacometti, Bérard and Emilio Terry. From 1928 to 1932, she opened the doors to wealthy Argentine families. In 1932, Ignacio Pirovano, a relative of Eugenia Errazuriz, founded the Comte company in Buenos Aires, which began by importing Frank's furniture produced by Chanaux, Frank's official manufacturer, before manufacturing it locally, with the designer's consent.  In 1940, another woman, the writer and patron Victoria Ocampo, welcomed Jean-Michel Frank, who had fled Nazi-occupied Paris, to Buenos Aires.

The result of decades of research, this book traces for the first time the South American adventure of one of the greatest French interior designers of the 20th century. It provides extensive documentation of this creative period in Frank's life and offers insight into his professional and personal relationships. It includes a catalogue raisonné of all of Frank and Comte's South American commissions, as well as an inventory of the designer's furniture in Argentine collections and a comparison of the models produced in France by Chanaux and their interpretation by Comte.