Jean Prouvé - The Collector: Icons of Design New York Tuesday, December 16, 2014 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Galerie 54, Paris
    Christie's, New York, "Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design," June 13, 2006, lot 132
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Exhibited

    “Prouvé # Aluminium,” Galerie 54, Paris, September 15-November 30, 2004

  • Literature

    Galeries Jousse Seguin and Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, front and back cover, pp. 192-93 195-96, 200-201
    Jean Prouvé # Aluminum, exh. cat., Galerie 54, Paris, 2004, illustrated n.p.
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé Œuvre Complète/ Complete Works Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 195
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 2007, vol.1, p. 79-81, vol. 2, pp. 294, 529
    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, p. 42, 166-69 258-62

  • Catalogue Essay

    Prouvé employed variations of porthole panels, among his most recognizable motifs, along the façades of key architectural projects of the early 1950s including the Maisons Tropicales, Congo; the Casino de la Grande Côte, Royan; the Palais des Congrès, Royan; and his own house in Nancy. A former colleague of Jean Prouvé reputedly acquired the present two lots following the closing of the Ateliers Jean Prouvé, Maxéville in the mid-1950s.

  • 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

3

Porthole panel

circa 1950
Aluminum, painted aluminum, plywood, glass.
91 x 41 x 2 in. (231.1 x 104.1 x 5.1 cm)
Manufactured by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France. Together with later display base.

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Sold for $170,500

Contact Specialist
Alexander Payne
Worldwide Head of Design
London
+44 20 7318 4052

Alex Heminway
Director of Design
New York
+1 212 940 1268

The Collector: Icons of Design

New York Auction 16 December 2014 5pm