Jean Prouvé - Design: Online Auction New York Wednesday, July 26, 2023 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Galerie Jousse Seguin, Paris
    Private collection, United States
    Private collection, Belgium
    Sotheby's, Paris, "Important Design," November 23, 2021, lot 143
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Literature

    Galeries Jousse Seguin and Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, pp. 62-3
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 252
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 379, 398-9
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 1, Paris, 2017, pp. 240-1, 247

  • Artist Biography

    Jean Prouvé

    French • 1901 - 1984

    Jean Prouvé believed in design as a vehicle for improvement. His manufactory Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, located in Nancy, France, produced furniture for schools, factories and municipal projects, both within France and in locations as far flung as the Congo. Though he designed for the masses, pieces such as his "Potence" lamps and "Standard" chairs are among the most iconic fixtures in sophisticated, high-design interiors today. Collectors connect with his utilitarian, austere designs that strip materials down to the bare minimum without compromising on proportion or style.

    Prouvé grew up in Nancy, France, the son of Victor Prouvé, an artist and co-founder of the École de Nancy, and Marie Duhamel, a pianist. He apprenticed to master blacksmiths in Paris and opened a small wrought iron forge in Nancy. However it was sheet steel that ultimately captured Prouvé's imagination, and he ingeniously adapted it to furniture, lighting and even pre-fabricated houses, often collaborating with other design luminaries of the period, such as Robert Mallet-Stevens, Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand.

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Property from a Manhattan Collection

18

Two-seat amphitheater banquette, designed for the Faculté des Lettres, Université de Besançon, France

circa 1953
Painted steel, oak, vinyl upholstery.
34 3/4 x 45 1/4 x 21 1/2 in. (88.3 x 114.9 x 54.6 cm)
Produced by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France.

Estimate
$7,000 - 9,000 

Sold for $19,050

Contact Specialist

Benjamin Green
Associate Specialist
Associate Head of Sale
bgreen@phillips.com
+1 917 207 9090

Design: Online Auction

26 July - 2 August 2023