Jean Prouvé - Design Masters New York Tuesday, December 15, 2015 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Air France Office, Brazzaville, Congo
    Galerie Jousse Seguin, Paris
    Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1997

  • Literature

    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre Complète/Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 169, fig. 1144.4,1
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Paris, 2007, p. 460 for similar examples
    Laurence Bergerot and Patrick Seguin, eds., Jean Prouvé, Volume 2, Galerie Patrick Seguin and Sonnabend Gallery Paris and New York, 2007, pp. 371, 375, 376

  • 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.

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Property from a Private Collection

314

Rare "Potence" pivoting wall light, model no. 602, from the Air France office, Brazzaville, Congo

circa 1952
Painted steel, oak, steel wire, rubber.
44 x 4 x 100 in. (111.8 x 10.2 x 254 cm)

Estimate
$50,000 - 70,000 

Sold for $185,000

Contact Specialist
Meaghan Roddy
Head of Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1266

Design Masters

New York Auction 15 December 2015 5pm