Jean Prouvé - Design London Wednesday, April 26, 2023 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private collection, France
    Sotheby's, Paris, 'Design', 19 May 2017, lot 82
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Literature

    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre Complète / Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, pp. 168-69 for similar examples
    Galerie Patrick Seguin and Sonnabend Gallery, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 371, 374-75 for similar examples

  • 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.

    View More Works

32

Pivoting 'Potence' wall light

circa 1947
Painted steel.
30 x 3.6 x 154.5 cm (11 3/4 x 1 3/8 x 60 7/8 in.)
Produced by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France.

Estimate
£12,000 - 18,000 

Sold for £38,100

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com

Design

London Auction 26 April 2023