Artist Series Vol : Industrial Designer Jean Prouvé

I don't know how I landed at portraits because I started at chairs but here we are

Sep 17, 2024

Hello my internet-friends,

this edition is an in-between Substack as an extra edit which I wrote a month ago and didn’t publish it yet. It got in the way of my planning with the Swiss guide. It’s for the nerds among my readers who want to deep dive as much as me into a topic :) Please tell me what you think and if you’d like more of this <3

I also wanted to say thank you so much!!! for sending me really nice messages through either this platform or Instagram, your words mean the world to me and I am so eager to make this newsletter a relevant place to go to for inspiration.

Yesterday I bought a new pair of glasses by one of the most beautiful brands there are for glasses - Jacques Marie Mage. They do editions of glasses, you get for example one out of an edition of 300 in total and these are the only ones available forever. I am so excited, I have a little glasses trauma from when I was like five years old and had to wear thick glasses with a line in the middle and usually hate all my glasses, but these ones I think I can wear every day!

can’t wait to recognize people again lol

Back to the topic of this newsletter:

I really admire the works of artists, architects, and designers such as Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, and Donald Judd, and what I really love is to gain a deeper understanding of an artist's life and all of their work. It allows to connect all the dots of diverse influences across different realms and understand the body of works of the individual artists to a much bigger extend. Doing all this deep research has had a huge influence how I travel and see the world, as there are so many artists, architects, and designers who have created inspirational places around the world that I love to visit.

I am thinking of doing an artist series once every moon for this newsletter: The term artist includes everyone from designers, architects and actual artists and the series would be like an ideally very inspiring and interesting portrait on these artists' universes - featuring their story, examples of their most important work and their influences, so we can all connect the dots. Would love to hear if you enjoy this too (or if I should enjoy this in silence haha).

Artist Series Volume 1: Jean Prouvé

Jean Prouvé was an industrial designer, one could say he is one of the most important ones of the 20th century, born in Paris in 1901, died in 1984 in Nancy, France. I recently saw his chair in the Corbusier house and I am pretty sure he designed one of the doors at the Villa Necchi - but so far I am lacking proof of that lol! I am so obsessed with his work - my dream would be to build a house and give the architect all these beautiful references with the holed walls.

*Jean Prouvé on his Cité chair in his living room of his house in Nancy, 1962. ©-ADAGP-©-Centre-Pompidou-MNAM-CCI-Bibliotheque-Kandinsky-Dist.-RMN-Grand-Palais-Fonds-Prouve*

Sadly, he is one of these artists who was only celebrated after his death (how annoying really?) The New York Times called him “an auction star” when Sotheby’s sold a door for $680,000 and Artcurial sold a table for €1,241,300 - quite a steep price! Now most of his work is at the famous gallery Patrick Seguin.

His Most Famous Works

I told you I am obsessed with his work - recognizable through a certain way of using materials such as metal and wood as well as the shape of those materials: A focus on simplicity and functionality. I collected some of my favourite works from him, which I would not mind for my own home:

Railing of staircase leading to basement dining-rooms, Brasserie Excelsior, Nancy, 1931. Image Courtesy: Jean Prouvé

These colors…Doors for the Maisons Tropicals, Africa. Manufactured by Ateliers Jean Prouvé, France, 1949

Jean Prouvé, Pupitre Biplaça, 1951 Ⓒ Jean Prouvé, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2021

*Love the red in combination with the wood…Standard chairs no. 305,* 1950 via Artsy:

Designed by Jean Prouvé in 1951, the Tropique no. 351 armchair was made for Air France in Brazzaville

This could be perfect for the guestroom. LOVE. Antony Daybed, 1954. Enameled steel, stained oak, upholstery. Via the auction platform Mutual Art.

I am obsessed. Type A Antony bookcases, 1955 and an adaptation of the Mexican bookcase by Charlotte Perriand (of which you will find an image below in the text). Image: Patrick Seguin

Just to show you - this is the “Mexique” bookcase by Charlotte Perriand, 1952 which I think is even more beautiful than the one before. Enameled aluminium, wood. 63 x 71.5 x 12.7 inches. Images via Jousse Enterprise.

Benauge fire station, Bordeaux, France, 1952-53. Image D.R.

The shapes - from Villa Seynave, Domaine de Beauvallon, Grimaud, 1961. Image Courtesy: Manuel Bougot, 2016

Constructional system and facades, Public university, Berlin, 1965-1973. Photo: Lena Giovanazzi, 2015. However, in the sections used by Prouvé, the steel started to rust heavily, therefore had to be replaced with a new system detailed in bronze

**Marcoule banquette from the Centre de Readaptation Fonctionnelle, Nancy, 1957. This sofa sold for 110.500 Dollars at Wright Auctions**

I love these demountable houses. Available at Patrick Seguin

Villa Dolander, designed by Jean’s brother Henry and built by Jean in 1951. The villa at the Côte d’Azur was on sale in 2020 for 6.3 million - I just know how beautiful it would smell on the terrace, a mix of pine trees, sun and ocean.

Most Famous Sites

You can visit his house and some additional sites located in France, some of which are listed below—always good to know if you happen to travel near those places. In the Corbusier house in Zuerich you can see his chairs!

The Demountable House by Jean Prouvé, Saint-Paul-de-Vence

For 600 Euro^ per night, you can stay in a 6 x 6 meter demountable house at Foundation Cab. It was designed by Jean Prouvé and built in 1944, a perfect example of his functionalist approach to design. I would do that?

Friche de L’escalette, Marseille

I remembered that I actually saw one of the demountable house by Prouvé when I recently visited the Friche de L’escalette in Marseille. This is exactly why I love doing this research so much - now knowing about the other demountable houses creates a whole different experience for me even post-visit <3

Maison Jean Prouvé, Nancy, France

Jean Prouvé built this house for his family within just one year in 1954. The house can be visited from the first weekend in June to the last weekend in September - I would love to see it, it looks really beautiful.

In this five minute Vitra interview with Jean Prouvé’s daughter Catherine Prouvé, you can see the house, the furniture and also some context about the demountable houses:

Musee des-beaux-arts, Nancy

The Musee des-beaux-arts has dedicated an entire room to Prouvé with thirty objects acquired by the museum or left on deposit by private individuals and institutions that illustrate the key stages in Jean Prouvé’s career.

Vitra Museum, Weil am Rhine

The Prouvé designs he gathered over the years grew into an immense collection that culminated with the 2006 exhibition ‘Jean Prouvé: The Poetics of the Technical Object." Following the exhibition, the collection has continued to grow and now includes approximately 170 pieces. These are used for research and exhibitions, and the Jean Prouvé Collection remains integral to the ongoing development of Vitra's Prouvé design portfolio

Books

There are some incredible books, some published by his gallery Patrick Seguin. For the really rare (and beautiful ones), check 1st Dibs…

Documentary

A short five-minute documentary where Rolf Fehlbaum, member of the board at Vitra speaks about what he loves most about Jean Prouvé:

Where To Buy

I just landed on a 1st Dibs page with lots of Prouvé objects - there is a really beautiful Vintage French Tecta M21 Desk / Table from the 80s for Buy It Now 2.060 Euro? No question, this is a lot of money, but this is also Prouvé?? Maybe this could be a great investment piece - I also found this great Grand Repos Lounge Chair that has the equivalent price point of a The Row Margaux bag…