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.
Rene Prou – Mahogany Corner Wash Closet From Orient Express -Circa 1927
By René Prou
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Introducing a truly extraordinary piece of furniture, the Rene Prou lacquered and marquetry inlaid mahogany corner wash closet from the Orient Express. This exceptional creation, dat...
Rosewood, Mahogany
Antique Quality Edwardian Mahogany Inlaid Corner Cabinet
Located in Suffolk, GB
Antique quality Edwardian mahogany inlaid corner cabinet having a fine inlay decoration which makes this an altogether striking piece. It boasts a charming shaped inlaid gallery top ...
Other
Antique Quality Edwardian Mahogany Inlaid Corner Cabinet
Located in Suffolk, GB
Antique quality Edwardian mahogany inlaid corner cabinet having a fine inlay decoration which makes this an altogether striking piece. It boasts a charming shaped inlaid gallery top ...
Other
Oak Corner Cabinet, circa 1900
Located in Evergreen, CO
Simple yet stately, this corner cabinet was crafted from solid oak and finished with a medium stain at the beginning of the 20th century. The cabinet's corner design maximizes storage without sacrificing floor space. Although the cabinet appears to be double bodied, it is one piece. It features a molded edge cornice, canted corners that protrude to create a reverse breakfront design, and a plinth base. The cabinet's upper raised panel doors...
Oak
$1,631
H 60.63 in W 36.62 in D 22.05 in
Large Antique Late Empire Corner Cabinet Made In Mahogany From 1840s
Located in Lejre, DK
This large antique late Empire corner cabinet exudes the grandeur and elegance characteristic of the 1840s. Crafted from rich mahogany, a prized wood choice for furniture of this era...
Mahogany
$5,500
H 81 in W 34.5 in D 18 in
Edwardian Mahogany Corner Cabinet, Carved Design, England, Circa 1850
Located in Vero Beach, FL
Edwardian mahogany corner cabinet. This English mahogany cabinet is an elegant corner piece. The cupboard top is ornately glass paneled and the bottom cabinet is decoratively inlaid with satinwood. The cabinet stands on an apron with bracket feet. Glass doors open to 3 shelves lined in sumptuous blue green antique damask...
Mahogany
$1,462Sale Price|55% Off
H 64.57 in W 40.56 in D 21.26 in
Antique Gothic Style Mahogany Corner Cabinet
Located in Montelabbate, PU
Corner cupboard with riser and two concave openwork doors with Gothic arches in the base. The ebony veneer top has an elevation with shaped shelves, finely carved rosewood columns an...
Mahogany
Rene Prou Secretary
By René Prou
Located in Pompano Beach, FL
A Rene Prou palissander and sycamore secretary.
Sycamore, Shagreen, Rosewood
1950 Sycamore chest of drawers by René Prou
By René Prou
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Sycamore chest of drawers from 1950 by René Prou Attractive sycamore chest of drawers by René Prou dating from the early 1950s. This chest of drawers is very decorative and typical o...
Wood
Fine French Art Deco Sideboard by Rene Prou
By René Prou
Located in Long Island City, NY
A fine French Art Deco walnut and burled walnut sideboard by René Prou, in collaboration with Albert Guenot. The facade features three central doors in burled walnut, flanked by two ...
Walnut
Biedermeier Corner Cabinet, circa 1820
Located in Greding, DE
Biedermeier corner cabinet veneered in birch, featuring a two-door lower section and a glazed two-door upper section topped by a triangular pediment. Restored and hand-polished. Side...
Birch
Sheraton Corner Cabinet Mahogany Antique 1880
Located in Potters Bar, GB
Mahogany Sheraton Revival Corner Cabinet. Circa 1880 The Corner Cabinet is Raised upon Bracket feet. Both the Lower Door and Upper Door are of an Astragal Form. The Corner Cabinet Fe...
Mahogany
19th Century Inlaid Mahogany Corner Cabinet
Located in Martlesham, GB
19th century inlaid mahogany corner cabinet, having an inlaid swan neck pediment with a central turned finial, inlaid frieze below, a single astrigal glaz...
Mahogany