While Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and other Art Deco contemporaries like Pierre Chareau have been hailed as masters of 20th-century design, René Prou has undeservedly more or less fallen off the decorative-arts radar.
Prou was born in Nantes on July 14, 1887, and later trained at an industrial-design school, the École Bernard-Palissy in Paris, between 1902 and 1908. He started his career working for the interior design firms Gouffé and Schmit & Cie. At the latter, he was responsible for the decoration of the Paris residence of the ambassador of Paraguay. Prou began designing under his own name after World War I and never stopped.
Among other projects, Prou imagined a women’s boudoir and a girl’s bedroom for the prestigious French Embassy pavilion at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris — widely considered the start of the Art Deco period. Prou created vases for the Manufacture de Sèvres, a fireplace for the living room of the Villa Noailles and a tearoom at the Lido cabaret on the Champs-Elysées.
The designer was prolific. A promotional brochure for Prou’s eponymous design firm stated that he had designed 60 private residences and 30 banks between 1918 and 1930, and his career continued another 17 years after that.
Prou decorated some 500 train compartments — the most prestigious of which were for the Orient Express — and participated in the interior design of nine luxury ocean liners, including the Paris, the Île-de-France and the legendary Normandie. He was also extremely well connected. His friends included the Catalan painter Josep Maria Sert and fellow designer Louis Sognot; he collaborated on projects with Raymond Subes and Ivan da Silva Bruhns; and he went trout fishing in Normandy with Ruhlmann.
Prou was a devoted pedagogue, too, teaching more than 3,000 pupils at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs over two decades, among them Charlotte Perriand and the postwar modernist designers Pierre Guariche and Alain Richard.
Prou’s output included sparks of innovation. He covered the floors of ocean liners with patchwork carpets made of linoleum, for example, and produced some strikingly modern-looking metal chairs. Yet much of his work was more traditional, regularly incorporating typical Art Deco geometric motifs and luxurious wood paneling. A book published in 2018 on Prou’s life and career has given new, and well-deserved, prominence to the influential designer.
Find vintage René Prou furniture on 1stDibs.
$4,341Sale Price / set|20% Off
A rare pair of Rene Prou wrought iron occasional chairs
By René Prou
Located in London, GB
A rare Art Deco pair of hand forged wrought iron occasional chairs designed uniquely by Rene Prou for the exquisite Claridge’s Hotel London . C1930s .
Iron
$12,900 / set
Set of Rene Prou dining room Chairs and Armchairs
By René Prou
Located in Miami, FL
Set of 6 Chairs and 2 Armchairs by Rene Prou
Wrought Iron
Art Deco Pair of Lounge Chairs by René Prou
By René Prou
Located in Miami, FL
This pair of Art Deco armchairs by René Prou represents the designer’s refined, curvilinear aesthetic and elegant sense of proportion, paired here with dramatic black lacquered wood ...
Rosewood
René Prou, Two Art Deco Armchairs in Lacquered Wood and Blue Velvet
By René Prou
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
René Prou, two Art Deco armchairs in lacquered wood and blue velvet, circa 1940-1950.
Velvet, Wood
Rene Prou Attributed Set of Eight Dining Chairs
By René Prou
Located in Philadelphia, PA
French Forties Art Deco dining chairs attributed to Rene Prou, set of eight, in beech. These chairs can be ebonized. Please note these chairs are unrestored in the photographs.
Beech
$2,344 / set
H 42.92 in W 18.9 in D 20.87 in
Set of 4 Brutalist Mid-Century Oak Dining Room Chairs, 70's
By Guillerme et Chambron
Located in Boven Leeuwen, NL
These chairs have a unique and distinct design characteristic of the 1970s. They are crafted from oak,and are durable and robust build. The choice of bouclé fabric for reupholstery a...
Oak, Fabric
$5,900Sale Price / set|40% Off
H 40 in W 16.75 in D 16 in
Rene Prou Art Deco Golden Wrought Iron Dining Room Chairs Black Vinyl Seats, 6
By René Prou
Located in Miami, FL
Superb set of six Art Deco wrought iron dining chairs golden powder coated finish by rene prou in the 1940s style. The set contains 4 highbacked chairs...
Wrought Iron
René Prou Set of Six Dining Chairs in Beech
By René Prou
Located in Philadelphia, PA
French 1940s Art Deco dining chairs, set of six, in beech. Please note that these chairs are unrestored in the photographs.
Beech
$1,987Sale Price / set|50% Off
H 35.5 in W 21 in D 21 in
Set Of 6 Regency Style Dining Room Chairs, Fruitwood, Ebonized, Italy
Located in Norwood, NJ
Set of 6 Regency Style Dining Room Chairs. Set of 6 fruitwood and ebonized Regency styled dining chairs. Black upholstery with off whi...
Fruitwood
Rene Prou Fine Set of Six Dining Chairs
By René Prou
Located in Philadelphia, PA
French 1940s Art Deco dining chairs, set of six by Rene Prou, in stained beech. These chairs could be ebonized. Please note these chairs are unrestored in the photographs. **PRICE includes proper restoration, refinishing and reupholstering with buyer supplied fabric. RENE PROU (1889-1948) A decorator as well as furniture designer, Rene Prou was born in Nantes and educated in Paris. He studied at the Ecole Bernard-Palissy in Paris and shortly thereafter joined the design house, Gouffé. By 1912 he had become their chief designer and was being called the first decorator of the modern taste (gout moderne). His varied design career included: 1922 oceanliner Paris 1922 – Paris to Deauville train (aka Train Bleu) 1923 – showed at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs 1924 oceanliner de Grasse 1925 – with Eric...
Beech
$4,850 / set
H 39.75 in W 18.5 in D 15.5 in
Pair of French Art Deco Chairs Attributed to Raymond Subes
By Raymond Subes, René Prou, Gilbert Poillerat
Located in Houston, TX
Pair of French Art Deco chairs attributed to Raymond Subes. Stylish pair of French Art Deco hand forged wrought iron chairs attributed to Raymond Subes. This chic pair of French side...
Iron
$3,633 / item
H 35.83 in W 20.87 in D 24.02 in
Comfortable Art Deco Style Shell Chair with Fabric Upholstery and Lacquered Wood
Located in Ulm, DE
Invite your visitors to take a seat in this comfortable armchair. This chair lends a special touch to your dining room: Even a fast food dinner will feel like a feast. High q...
Upholstery, Wood
Italian Art Deco Single Stool in Lacquered Wood and Blue Velvet
By Guglielmo Ulrich
Located in Milan, IT
Italian Art Deco Single Stool in Lacquered Wood and Blue Velvet
Velvet, Wood
French Art Deco Oak Armchair in Brown Velvet - F750
Located in Ternay, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
French Art Deco armchair from the 40s/50s. Solid oak structure, original seat in brown velvet with studs. Nice vintage condition of the whole, ...
Velvet, Oak
Rene Prou Pair of Open-Sided Armchairs
By René Prou
Located in Philadelphia, PA
French Art Deco pair of armchairs in stained beech by Rene Prou, circa 1935. Restored and newly upholstered. Measures: 21.5" wide x 26" deep x 32" high.
Beech
$3,750 / set
H 33.08 in W 24.41 in D 26.38 in
Art Deco Green Velvet and Black Lacquered Wood Club Armchairs, 1940
Located in Roma, Lazio
Pair of very clean and architectural in its design armchairs. Wisely restored by our upholstery atelier, a combination of fabrics was chosen to highlight embellish the beauty of the ...
Velvet, Beech
Pair of René Prou Lounge Chairs
By René Prou
Located in Chicago, IL
Made in: France, c. 1940 Material: Velvet upholstery, beech Size: 36 W × 37 D × 45.5 H in seat height 16.5 inches.
Upholstery, Beech
Sold
H 37 in W 18 in D 22 in
Rene Prou French Mid-Century Modern Side Chair or Vanity Chair in Gilt Metal
By René Prou
Located in Astoria, NY
French Mid-Century Modern side chair or vanity chair in gilt metal, designed by Rene Prou. The piece was made during the mid-20th century and comes with the original upholstery. In g...
Metal
Pair of René Prou Verdigris Iron Chairs
By René Prou
Located in CA, CA
A pair of Rene Prou wrought iron chairs with a Verdigris patina. The backs have a decorative iron work scroll pattern of repeated form that rest on a subtlety turned ball foot and up...
Wrought Iron
Rene Prou Side Chair
By René Prou
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Elegant chair in sycamore designed in the 1940s.
Sycamore
Pair of René Prou Chairs, 1930s, Art Deco
By René Prou
Located in London, Park Royal
An original, pair of René Prou chairs, circa 1930s. Finished in the original Art Deco, dusky pink lacquer and upholstered in a complementary pale, she...
Wood, Lacquer
Rene Prou Armchairs
By René Prou
Located in Bridgewater, CT
Rene Prou armchairs, made of iron and upholstered. Green patina.
Iron
Set of Four Iron Chairs by René Prou, France, circa 1930s
By René Prou
Located in Isle Sur La Sorgue, Vaucluse
Chic set of four wrought iron side chairs by René Prou. The ironwork is painted glossy black. New seat cushions, covered in yellow outdoor fabric with ...
Rene Prou Modernist Metal Chair, Circa 1930
By René Prou
Located in New York, NY
Rene Prou - Modernist metal chair, circa 1930.
French Art Deco Rene PROU 1930 Vanity Chair
By René Prou
Located in Encino, CA
Rene PROU ( 1889 - 1947 ) Sycamore vanity chair and faux light aubergine leather buttoned upholstery. Circa 1930 Literature : Parisian Auction House France 2009 H.31"7/8 x W.18...
Sycamore, Faux Leather