The 1930s were a pivotal moment for Jean Prouvé, a time in which he changed workshops from Rue de Custine to Rue des Jardiniers and set up the iconic Les Ateliers de Jean Prouvé with engineer and brother-in-law André Schott. The Cité armchair is a product of this period, designed for a competition to furnish student dorm rooms at the Cité Universitaire in Nancy, France, where Prouvé would later become mayor. It was the smallest series model to come out of Les Ateliers. Alongside its comfortability, which was its main marketing feature, it was also light and hygienic and was sold to sanatoriums as well as universities. The new trend for “easy” chairs to replace the older “reading” chairs saw a pressed-steel structure with open U-shaped legs linked by crosspieces. This was then attached to a tubing frame bearing generous dimensions of a stretched fabric seat. The armrests were made of broad leather pieces that were attached to the frame with metal tabs. Of this model, 60 variations were made, each with slight amendments to the armrests and spring-load adjustability of the chair. Its rational and sculptural aesthetic would pave the way for many of Jean Prouvé’s home furniture designs, and indeed, the designer himself kept one in his own living room.

The ability to meld both design and functionality as seen in the Cité armchair is a characteristic instantly attributable to Jean Prouvé. His double identity as both engineer and designer provided him with a better understanding of the materials he worked with and meant “he was not frightened of new forms…he was able to design and build furniture, such as the early chairs and the armchair for the Cité Universitaire at Nancy, of a different quality from that being made by other avant-garde designers of the period” (Joseph Belmont in Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 1: 1917-1933, Basel, 2000, p. 11).