Private Collection, Nancy, France
Jousse Entreprise, Paris
VINTAGE 20, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes, June 15-September 23, 2013; then travelled to Barcelona, CaixaForum, January 28-May 11, 2014 and Madrid, CaixaForum, June 10-October 12, 2014
Willy Boesiger, ed., Le Corbusier et son Atelier rue de Sèvres 35, OEuvre Complète Volume 5: 1946-1952, New York, 1990, pp. 209, 213
Galeries Jousse Seguin and Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, p. 54
Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: OEuvre Complète, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 159, fgs. 1135.4,2, 1135.4,4 for an image and technical drawing
Galerie Patrick Seguin and Sonnabend Gallery, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris and New York, 2007, pp. 271, 291, p. 510 for a Steph Simon prospectus
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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