Jean Prouvé - The Architect London Monday, April 28, 2014 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Institut de l'Environnement, Paris

  • Literature

    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 4: 1954-1984, Basel, 2005, p. 50, fig. 95, p. 248, fig. 1424,2-3

  • Catalogue Essay

    The Institut de l'Environnement was built in 1968, one of the busiest years of Jean Prouvé's late career. Founded by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the building was designed as a space for professionals from multiple disciplines to pursue their work in service to the environment. The building was later occupied by an organisation perhaps more familiar to students of design history: the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs.

    The present model will be exhibited at the forthcoming 'Architecture Biennale', Venice, 7 June-23 November 2014.

  • 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

367

Panel, from the Institut de l'Environnement, Paris

1968
Painted aluminum, steel, glass, rubber.
268 x 177.8 x 5.7 cm (105 ½ x 70 x 2 ¼ in.)
Interior of frame with red plastic button printed with 181/PLASTIQUES/DE/FRANCE/MARSEILLE.

Estimate
£7,000 - 9,000 

Sold for £11,250

Contact Specialist
Alexander Payne
Senior Director & Worldwide Head, Design
apayne@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4052

The Architect

Created by Lee F. Mindel, London Auction 29 April 2014 6pm