Alfons Bach

Alfons Bach (1904–1999) was a German industrial designer and watercolor painter. He is known for his architectural design projects and his tubular steel furniture, which have been described as "icons for their period."^[1]

Early life and career

Alfons Bach was born in Magdeburg, Germany. He grew up in Munich. He attended school in Berlin.^[1] He moved to New York, New York in 1926. Before his move, he had studied film and design.^[2]

Career

Bach designed the remodeling of Sach's and the Seneca Textile Building, both in New York City.^[2] His work was exhibited in early contemporary industrial art shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[1] In 1938 he designed his own home in Stamford, Connecticut. He led the project to build the Ridgeway Center, one of the first shopping malls in the United States.^[2] Bach designed tubular steel furniture in the 1930s for the Lloyd Manufacturing Company. They continued to produce his pieces until 1947. These tubular pieces are considered a link between Bauhaus and modern design style.^[1] He moved to Florida in 1959. He designed the Palm Trial Plaza in Delray Beach. He curated the United States exhibition at the International Industrial Design Exhibition in 1969.^[2] He designed work for General Electric, Keystone Silver, Pacific Mills and Bigelow-Samford. He served as president of the American Designers Institute.^[1]

Later life and death

In 1992, he moved to Pensacola, Florida where he died in a nursing home, in 1999.^[1]

Legacy

His work is held in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and the Yale University Art Gallery.^[1][2] A set of 17th-century sliding-door panels from a Zen temple in Kyoto, Japan, owned by Bach and his wife, Anita, reside in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[1]

References