Jean Prouvé - Design London Wednesday, September 25, 2013 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    DeLorenzo 1950, New York

  • Literature

    Galeries Jousse Seguin and Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, pp. 48-51 for similar examples
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre Complète, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, pp. 215-16, figs. 1209.4,1, 1209.4,2
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 299, 310-13

  • 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 PRIVATE COLLECTION, CALIFORNIA

116

‘Direction’ armchair, model no. 352

circa 1951
Painted tubular steel, painted bent steel, oak, vinyl.
81 x 63.5 x 58.4 cm (31 7/8 x 25 x 22 7/8 in.)
Manufactured by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé and editioned by Steph Simon, France.

Estimate
£50,000 - 70,000 Ω♠

Sold for £68,500

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Design

London 26 September 2013