Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Engineer and metalsmith, self-taught designer and architect, manufacturer and teacher, Jean Prouvé was a key force in the evolution of 20th-century French design, introducing a style that combined economy of means and stylistic chic. Along with his frequent client and collaborator Le Corbusier and others, Prouvé, using his practical skills and his understanding of industrial materials, steered French modernism onto a path that fostered principled, democratic approaches to architecture and design.
Prouvé was born in Nancy, a city with a deep association with the decorative arts. (It is home, for example, to the famed Daum crystal manufactory.) His father, Victor Prouvé, was a ceramist and a friend and co-worker of such stars of the Art Nouveau era as glass artist Émile Gallé and furniture maker Louis Majorelle. Jean Prouvé apprenticed to a blacksmith, studied engineering, and produced ironwork for such greats of French modernism as the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens. In 1931, he opened the firm Atelier Prouvé. There, he perfected techniques in folded metal that resulted in his Standard chair (1934) and other designs aimed at institutions such as schools and hospitals.
During World War II, Prouvé was a member of the French Resistance, and his first postwar efforts were devoted to designing metal pre-fab housing for those left homeless by the conflict. In the 1950s, Prouvé would unite with Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret (Le Corbusier’s cousin) on numerous design projects. In 1952, he and Perriand and artist Sonia Delaunay created pieces for the Cité Internationale Universitaire foundation in Paris, which included the colorful, segmented bookshelves that are likely Prouvé’s and Perriand’s best-known designs. The pair also collaborated on 1954’s Antony line of furniture, which again, like the works on 1stDibs, demonstrated a facility for combining material strength with lightness of form.
Prouvé spent his latter decades mostly as a teacher. His work has recently won new appreciation: in 2008 the hotelier Andre Balazs purchased at auction (hammer price: just under $5 million) the Maison Tropicale, a 1951 architectural prototype house that could be shipped flat-packed, and was meant for use by Air France employees in the Congo. Other current Prouvé collectors include Brad Pitt, Larry Gagosian, Martha Stewart and the fashion designer Marc Jacobs.
The rediscovery of Jean Prouvé — given not only the aesthetic and practical power of his designs but also the social conscience his work represents — marks one of the signal “good” aspects of collecting vintage 20th-century design. An appreciation of Prouvé is an appreciation of human decency.
Find antique Jean Prouvé chairs, tables, chaise longues and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Enamel
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Steel
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1950s Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Metal
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Metal, Aluminum
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
Late 19th Century Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Wood, Oak
1950s Asian Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Wood
19th Century French Art Nouveau Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Wood
Late 19th Century French Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Limestone
1750s French Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Oak
19th Century English Renaissance Revival Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Wood, Pine
16th Century French Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Limestone
17th Century French Renaissance Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Wood
Early 20th Century Industrial Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Other Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Ceramic, Majolica, Pottery
16th Century French Gothic Antique Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Metal, Iron
20th Century Unknown Mid-Century Modern Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Bamboo, Rattan
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Pine
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1950s French Industrial Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Metal, Aluminum
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1960s French Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1950s French Industrial Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum, Sheet Metal
1950s French Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Prouvé Building and Garden Elements
Aluminum