Jean Prouvé - Design New York Tuesday, December 17, 2013 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    L'Unité d'Habitation Air France, Brazzaville
    Private collection, Europe
    Wright, Chicago, "Important Design," June 6, 2013, lot 160

  • Literature

    Galeries Jousse Seguin and Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, pp. 196, 200, 203, 205
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, pp. 168-69 for "Potence" wall lights, fig. 1144.6 for a drawing of the present model
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Vol. 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 374, 376-77

  • 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

300

Rare "Potence" pivoting bracket light, from l'Unité d'Habitation Air France, Brazzaville

circa 1952
Painted metal, steel wire, wood.
29 3/4 x 2 x 82 1/2 in. (75.6 x 5.1 x 209.6 cm)
Manufactured by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France.

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for $68,750

Contact Specialist
Meaghan Roddy
Head of Sale, New York
mroddy@phillips.com
+ 1 212 940 1266

Design

New York 17 December 2013 2pm