Jean Prouvé - Design New York Tuesday, June 7, 2022 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    DeLorenzo 1950, New York
    Acquired from the above by the present owner, circa 1995

  • Literature

    Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Œuvre complète / Complete Works, Volume 2: 1934-1944, Basel, 2000, pp. 33, 294-95
    Galerie Patrick Seguin, Jean Prouvé, Volume 1, Paris, 2017, pp. 66-69, 98, 397

  • 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, Westchester

16

Set of four "Tout bois” chairs

circa 1942
Oak-veneered plywood, oak.
Each: 32 1/2 x 16 x 19 1/2 in. (82.6 x 40.6 x 49.5 cm)
Manufactured by Les Établissements Vauconsant, Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, France for Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France.

Estimate
$15,000 - 20,000 

Sold for $32,760

Contact Specialist

Benjamin Green
Associate Specialist

Associate Head of Sale

bgreen@phillips.com
+1 917 207 9090

Design

New York Auction 7 June 2022