Jean Prouvé - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale Hong Kong Saturday, November 26, 2016 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Private Collection, Nancy
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris

  • Literature

    Two Master Metalworkers: Jean Prouvé, Serge Mouille, exh. cat., Anthony DeLorenzo, New York, Alan and Christine Counord, Paris, 1985, pp. 44-45
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, pp. 208-11, figs. 1207.1 1-6, p. 268, figs. 1242.3,4 for images and technical drawings
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 234, 266-69 for images and a technical drawing

  • 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

31

Pair of "Semi-metal" chairs, model no. 305

circa 1950
painted steel, painted tubular steel, oak-veneered plywood
Each: 79.4 x 42.9 x 46.4 cm. (31 1/4 x 16 7/8 x 18 1/4 in.)
Manufactured by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France circa 1950.

Estimate
HK$340,000 - 420,000 
€40,900-50,600
$43,600-53,800

Contact Specialist
Jonathan Crockett
Deputy Chairman, Asia and Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Asia
+852 2318 2023

Sandy Ma
Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+852 2318 2025

General Enquiries
+852 2318 2000

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale

Hong Kong Auction 27 November 2016