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.
$704Sale Price|20% Off
Rene Prou drawing for the Paquebot France salon
By René Prou
Located in grand Lancy, CH
Rene Prou drawing for the Paquebot France salon little damage on the paper at left see photo
Paper
$520Sale Price|20% Off
Jean Rene Prou Neo classic armchairs drawing
By René Prou
Located in grand Lancy, CH
Jean Rene Prou drawing of armchair pair
Paper
French Vintage Charcoal Drawing of Jesus
Located in Baton Rouge, LA
French, early 20th century (if not prior) charcoal and chalk drawing of a risen Jesus Christ. Beautiful in its monochromatic palette, the work highlights the gathering of fabric in h...
Glass, Wood, Paper
$3,000
H 33 in W 29 in D 1 in
French Academy Drawing of the Byzantine Commander Belisarius after Gerard
Located in Vancouver, British Columbia
Pencil on paper drawing after a late 18th century French neoclassical painting after a painting of Belisarius by Baron Francois Pasal Simo...
Parchment Paper
Drawing Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Pillement
By Jean-Baptiste Pillement
Located in Kittery Point, ME
Two-faced drawing. Studies of characters and harbor scene. With an inscription stating it is from the sketchbook in the collection of Dr. Manuel de Espirito Santo in Lisbon. Ink a...
Paper
Jean Negulesco Single Line Drawings
By Jean Negulesco
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Beautiful continuous line drawings by Jean Negulesco - Oscar award winning Hollywood director. Newly framed. 4 different variations available, priced individually: Black frame, sea foam green background, and black line drawing...
Plexiglass, Wood, Paper
French Architectural Drawings
Located in Seattle, WA
set of 3 framed and matted french architectural drawings of Propriete de Mr Jugla on the Rue Vital No 39, Paris-Passy. dated Feb. 20, 1894
Metal
René Leroy, French Artist, Pastel on Paper, "Red Countryside"
Located in København, Copenhagen
René Leroy (b. 1931), French artist. Pastel on paper. "Red Countryside". Dated 1987. Light size: 17.5 x 12 cm. Total dimensions: 30 x 24 cm. In excellent condition. Signed and ...
Paper
$672
H 22.05 in W 15.75 in D 1.19 in
Mid Century Modern Drawing by René Plomteux – Portrait – Belgian Modernism
Located in Casteren, Noord-Brabant
Original drawing from the 1960s by the Belgian artist René Plomteux (1912–1991), signed by the artist in the lower right corner. Plomteux, also known under the pseudonym Arthur Rener...
Glass, Wood, Paper
Drawing by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, 1760
By Jean Baptist Le Prince
Located in Kinderhook, NY
A black ink and sepia wash drawing by French artist Jean-Baptiste Le Prince of a classical scene of Roman soldiers with camel signed and dated lower left. T...
Glass, Giltwood, Paper
$1,480Sale Price|20% Off
H 15 in W 11 in D 0.1 in
"American Indian Dance, " Art Deco Drawing by Jean Target, 1930s
By Jean Target
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Evidence of Western Europe's fascination with Native American culture, dress and way of life for over a century, this vivid drawing uses watercolor, gouache and crayon to capture a g...
Paper
French 18th century drawing of The Study of a Resting Soldier
By Jean-Antoine Watteau
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A wonderful and most decorative French 18th century drawing of The Study of a Resting Soldier, after Jean-Antoine Watteau. This charming sanguine sketch or blood red chalk drawing is matted and set within a finely carved French Regence st. 19th century Giltwood frame. The red chalk drawing is of the same soldier laying down with his rifle where he is resting, stretching, and getting up from his rest. Favored for its lifelike warmth, sanguine colored chalk was used by artist such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Finely executed and extremely decorative. Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) was a French painter and draftsman whose work ushered in the Rococo era, transforming European art with a new sense of grace, intimacy, and lyrical charm. Born in Valenciennes, France, Watteau trained...
Giltwood
$45,000
H 4 in W 2.63 in D 0.07 in
Red Chalk Drawing of a Seated Woman by Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
By Jean-Antoine Watteau
Located in Long Island City, NY
This charming drawing is a preliminary study for the larger drawing, Trois etudes de femme assise, coiffee d'une fontange, in the British Museum. This little gem comes from Brooke A...
Paper
René Leroy, French Artist, Pastel on Paper, 1980s
Located in København, Copenhagen
René Leroy (b. 1931), French artist. Pastel on paper. 1980s. Visible dimensions: 12 x 10 cm. Total dimensions: 24 x 18 cm. In excellent condition. Signed.
Paper
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H 10 in W 16 in D 8 in
Pair of French Art Deco Wrought Iron Wall Brackets or Consoles with Marble Tops
By René Prou, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Raymond Subes, Gilbert Poillerat, Paul Kiss
Located in Houston, TX
Great pair of French Art Deco geometric hand forged wrought iron wall brackets or wall consoles or demilunes with marble tops. These period French...
Marble, Wrought Iron