Jean Prouvé - Design New York Wednesday, December 14, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Galeries Jousse Seguin, Paris; Richard Kern, New York

  • Literature

    Anthony Delorenzo, ed., Jean Prouvé/ Serge Mouille, New York, 1985, p. 65
    Galeries Jousse Seguin and Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, p. 103
    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: OEuvre Compléte, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 264, fig.1242.1 for a drawing and pp. 266-67 for similar examples
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, pp. 351-52 for a drawing and similar example

  • 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

172

“Compas” desk

ca. 1953
Painted bent steel, oak.
28 7/8 x 47 1/4 x 19 1/2 in. (73.3 x 120 x 49.5 cm)
Manufactured by Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France
Editioned by Steph Simon, France.

Estimate
$14,000 - 18,000 

Sold for $16,250

Design

14 December 2011
New York