Jean Prouvé refurbished France

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Architect, industrialist, designer, Jean Prouvé was all along his life in service of the popular classes. Member of the Resistance during World War II, he helped rebuild France.

Since the 1930s, he promoted logic, balance and purity. Specialist of metal, particularly aluminum, the originality of his style is that he preferred the bent metal to the tube.

Taking up his activities at the end of 1945, he designed the model of armchairs known as "Visiteurs," among other pieces of furniture he wanted accessible to many. Three of these seats in oak are presented in the sale of Pierre Bergé et Associés in Paris, salle Drouot, on January 28: a pair of 1946, estimated 40 K €, as lot 187, and the third from 1949, estimated 20 K €, lot 188.

As a logical continuation of this model, Prouvé produced from 1954 the furniture of the student residence of Antony, near Paris: bookcases, chairs, beds, desks. This set is the best example of functional French furniture in the second half of the twentieth century.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The estimates were too optimistic. The pair of seats, Lot 187, was sold 34 K € before fees, and Lot 188 was not sold.