Jean Prouvé - Design London Monday, April 28, 2014 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Cité Universitaire, Nancy, France
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris

  • Literature

    Galeries Jousse Seguin and Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, p. 131
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 1: 1917-1933, Basel, 2000, p. 204, figs. 258.1-3, p. 206 for a technical drawing and period image
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 2: 1934-1944, Basel, 2000, p. 39, fig. 283.2 for an Ateliers Jean Prouvé prospectus
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 233, fig. 1221.2,1 for a technical drawing
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 404, 411, 412 for a drawing, p. 500 for an Ateliers Jean Prouvé prospectus

  • 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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34

'Cité' desk, from the Cité Universitaire, Nancy

1932
Painted bent steel, painted tubular steel, oak, aluminium.
73.7 x 100 x 68.3 cm (29 x 39 3/8 x 26 7/8 in.)
Manufactured by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France.

Estimate
£15,000 - 25,000 

Contact Specialist
Ben Williams
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale
bwilliams@phillips.com
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Design

London Auction 29 April 2014 2pm