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

    Faculté de Lettres, Université de Besançon, Besançon, France

  • Literature

    Galeries Jousse Seguin and Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, pp. 62-63 for the two-seat model and Steph Simon prospectus
    Penelope Rowlands, Jean Prouvé, New York, 2002, pp. 50-51 for the two-seat model
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 252, fig. 1235.22,1-2 for the two-seat model
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 379, 399 for the two-seat model
    Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli and Galerie Patrick Seguin, A Passion for Jean Prouvé: From Furniture to Architecture: The Laurence and Patrick Seguin Collection, exh. cat., Paris, 2013, pp. 84-85

  • 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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38

Row of three lecture theatre chairs with adjustable seats, designed for the Faculté de Lettres, Université de Besançon

1952-1956
Painted bent steel, painted tubular steel, oak, vinyl.
88.5 x 165.6 x 56 cm (34 7/8 x 65 1/4 x 22 in.)
Manufactured by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France.

Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for £12,500

Contact Specialist
Ben Williams
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale
bwilliams@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4027

Design

London Auction 29 April 2014 2pm