Design 
22 October 2020
Design 
278

Jean Prouvé

Tout Bois chair

Vauconsant Company for Ateliers Jean Prouvé
France, 1941 / c. 1945
stained oak 32½ h × 16 w × 20 d in (83 × 41 × 51 cm)
estimate: $7,000–9,000
result: $12,500
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The earliest Standard chair was made of metal in 1934 and Prouvé adapted this popular form many times throughout his career. During World War II Prouvé worked with the Vauconsant Company to produce this form in wood due to the scarcity of metal. The earliest examples feature a frame of solid wood with side tenons passing through the back frame, though variants suggest fluctuations in the supply of materials and adjustments to the design. Following the war, the Tout Bois chair continued to be produced with or without the tenons visible at the back of the frame.
provenance: Collection Jean-Claude Kraftchik, Paris | Acquired from the previous in 1990, Private Collection | Wright, Important Design including Post War + Contemporary Art, 5 June 2019, Lot 278 | Private Collection, Los Angeles

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Jean Prouvé 1901–1984

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Jean Prouvé was born in Nancy, France, in 1901. Prouvé‘s father Victor founded the École de Nancy, an Art Nouveau school that focused on hand-made objects. Apprenticing with an ironsmith as a teenager, he learned the value of simple forms and metalworking techniques. Prouvé founded his studio, Ateliers Jean Prouvé in 1923 and created restrained metal objects that rejected excess decoration. Within his workshop, he favored industrial materials like sheet steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. Engineers employed these materials in the emerging aircraft industry, and these materials inspired Prouvé to design a pre-fabricated houses with Le Corbusier in 1923 that was reminiscent of aircraft design. Working with Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, Prouvé created breathtaking furniture that forged the process of prefabrication. Prouvé tirelessly focused on finding creative and useful solutions to design problems throughout his career, crafting everything from aluminum vacation homes to university bookcases, living by his words that one should “never design anything that cannot be made.”

Auction Results Jean Prouvé

Jean Prouvé

rare and important Professor desk for the Université de Lille

estimate: $250,000–350,000

result: $293,000

Jean Prouvé

refectory table from the Holiday Camp at Saint-Brevin

estimate: $150,000–200,000

result: $252,000

Jean Prouvé

No. 4 chairs, set of eight

estimate: $50,000–70,000

result: $132,000

Jean Prouvé

Flavigny table

estimate: $20,000–30,000

result: $131,000

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