FRANZISKA HOSKEN; HOSKEN INC. Bar cart, USA, 1948; Chromed steel, birch plywood, casters; Unmarked; 26 3/4" x 40" x 23"; Provenance: The Private Residence of Mark McDonald, Hudson, acquired in the 1990s; Franziska Hosken was only a designer for a short period of time, but it was an important chapter in a life of extraordinary achievements. Born in Austria, Hosken received her MA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1944, studying with Gropius and Breuer, and this magnificent trolley certainly reflects that training. With her husband James Hosken, Franziska founded Hosken Inc., and several of her designs were accepted into MoMA’s 1951-52 Good Design Exhibition. After divorcing James, Hosken went on to design jewelry and work as an architectural photographer who traveled the world and wrote about village planning in Africa and Asia. She founded the Women’s International Network News service, and in 1979, she organized the first global initiative against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) after the publication of the landmark “Hosken Report.” Hosken’s furniture designs were the subject of an exhibition at Lin-Weinberg Gallery in New York in 2001.
