Experience a virtual tour of our showroom with pieces by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier.
Experience a virtual tour of our showroom with pieces by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier.
In this particular time, Galerie Patrick Seguin makes available online two of its latest publications dedicated to Jean Prouvé’s demountable architecture – May this lockdown be an opportunity to discover or study in-depth his work!
Stay home, be safe.
Jean Prouvé, 6×6 demountable house, 1944
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Jean Prouvé, 6×9 demountable house, 1944
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This reference work, that complements two previous box sets respectively published in 2014 and 2016, celebrates Jean Prouvé’s architectures through multiples plans, drawings, as well as archival and contemporary photographs.
Since its creation in 1989, Galerie Patrick Seguin has worked to document and promote the numerous demountable houses designed by Jean Prouvé, pioneer of the industrial production of furniture and architecture. Developing a « constructional philosophy » based on a logic of fabrication and functionality, Jean Prouvé created, from the 1930s, lightweighted and demountable architecture that still remains a reference to this day.
Galerie Patrick Seguin has assembled the most important and unique collection of these structures by Jean Prouvé, to which the gallery has consecrated a series of publications.
Divided in 3 box sets, each containing 5 monographic volumes, the series of 15 works is aimed at the general public as well as the more well-informed readership. Each book is devoted to an architecture designed by Jean Prouvé, which for the most part are either unique examples, prototypes or manufactured in very limited numbers. Richly illustrated, the volumes present in detail one of Jean Prouvés’ construction systems, the constituent elements and its assembly, both in its historical and contemporary context.
This third 5 volume box set is comprised of the following books, numbered from 11 to 15, also available individually :
Vol.11 Maxéville design office, 1948
As a participant in the French government’s policy on definitive postwar construction – too timid in his opinion – Jean Prouvé urged a thoroughgoing industrial revolution in the building sector. His immediate contribution was the fine-tuning of the axial frame constructional system he had created and patented before the War. Commissioned by the Minister for Reconstruction, he manufactured in a matter of months a display version, despite shortages and other postwar constraints. The small series of 8×12 m houses – although it took prize in the 1947 Concours des Maisons Nouvelles (New Houses) competition – will in the end go no further.
The prototype, stored at the Maxéville plant, will be mounted on site in 1952 to serve as a design office for the Ateliers Jean Prouvé, fast-growing at the time.
Vol.12 6×9 demountable house, 1944
At the end of the War, the Ministry of Reconstruction commissioned Jean Prouvé to design moveable pavilions as temporary housing for those who had lost their homes in eastern France. Fine-tuning his already patented axial portal frame system, he replied to the urgency of the situation with a quick, economical and flexible solution. “We need to run a race against time”.
This temporary solution also provided him with a chance to try out an industrial process that could be made more permanent.
Vol.13 Bouqueval demountable school, 1950
Taking part in a Ministry of Education competition in 1949, Jean Prouvé conceived an industrializable and mass-producible rural school. He saw this brief as the chance to engage in the mass production of inexpensive buildings with a wide range of application. In 1950, he is commissioned by the State to produce two school+accommodation prototypes, one in Bouqueval outside Paris, the other at Vantoux near Metz. Despite the success of the demonstration, these two schools were to be the only examples of the substantial series so hoped for by Jean Prouvé.
In 2016, Galerie Patrick Seguin commissioned the Jean Nouvel / HW Architecture studios to adapt this building. Conceived in harmony with the existing materials, the adaptation gives us a full appreciation of the characteristics from the Prouvé structural system.
Vol.14 SCAL demountable pavilion, 1940
A result of a close collaboration between Jean Prouvé and architect Pierre Jeanneret, the construction site for the SCAL factory in Issoire represents a significant step in the History of modern architecture. This major project, initiated in a context of war, will allow for a demonstration of a construction prefabricated in the plant and subsequently dry-mounted on site. Jean Prouvé will also use his axial frame constructive system for the very first time.
These avant-garde solutions – practical, economical but also aesthetically pleasing – will retain the attention of the authorities in charge of the postwar construction.
Vol.15 Jean Prouvé, his house in Nancy, 1954
Jean Prouvé’s story is closely tied with that of Nancy. In 1954, he built his family house in the city, a fine example of the technical innovations as well as of the ingenious adaptations of his creator. Mounted within three week-ends only, the Nancy house is one of his most personal creations and shows a process that is environmentally respectful. In 1984, when Prouvé passed away, the building was listed as a Historic Monument on the request of the then Minister of Culture Jack Lang.
Publisher : Édition Galerie Patrick Seguin 2019
Languages : French-English
Number of pages : 5×80 pages
ISBN : 9782909187228
Distribution : Interart-Dap
‘‘Pièces-Meublés’’ is the title of a two-part exhibition (1995 and 2016) by New York art critic Bob Nickas at the invitation of Galerie Patrick Seguin.
The concept of the exhibition consisted in comparing contemporary art with the leading creations of 20th century design: by inviting about twenty artists to choose a piece of furniture to interact with their work or to integrate it by creating a new work, “Pièces-Meublés” highlighted the relevance of the links and resonances between creations and creators, beyond periods and generations.
This book of more than 200 pages illustrates the two parts of the exhibition produced twenty years apart. Articulated in two chapters – one devoted to the 1995 exhibition, the second to the 2016 – introduced by a preface by Bob Nickas, this catalogue, lavishly illustrated with in situ photographs as well as archival images for furniture and architectural elements, recounts this abundant exhibition.
Since the opening of their gallery in 1989, Laurence and Patrick Seguin have carried out promotional work aimed at rediscovering the oeuvre of Jean Prouvé (1901-1984), firstly through his furniture designs, then later through exhibiting particular examples of his architecture such as the prefabricated houses (6×6 and 6×9 Demountable houses, Ferembal house, Métropole house, Les Jours Meilleurs house, Bouqueval School, Villejuif Temporary School). During these thirty years, a large number of exhibitions in international galleries, museums and institutions together with the regular publication of books by the gallery have allowed Galerie Patrick Seguin to reveal the exceptional nature of Jean Prouvé’s creations. Recognized today as one of the central figures in the history of 20th century architecture and design, his work is included in many of the largest museums of the world and the most prestigious private collections.
Parallel to this work, Laurence and Patrick Seguin have built a unique collection of furniture and architecture by Jean Prouvé. Sixty of these pieces will be presented at Château La Coste in the exhibition pavilion designed by Renzo Piano. Furniture and architectural elements from the collection are for the most part prototypes, unique pieces, or extremely rare, notably : a Centrale table, Antony (1954), a table from Africa (1952), a Granipoli table (1939), a Présidence desk (1955), a lighted ramp from Le Mans (1954) and a swing-jib lamp from
Africa (1952), as well as various types of facades such as a porthole panel from the Casino de Royan (1951), a panel from the Fédération du Bâtiment (1949), and a sliding door from the Pavillon du Centenaire de l’Aluminum (1954). Laurence and Patrick Seguin will also lend a mobile by Alexander Calder and a gouache by Fernand Léger, both pieces offered by the respective artists to their friend, Jean Prouvé. A Richard Prince piece created from a Jean Prouvé original Antony Table will also be displayed.
There are numerous chairs in the exhibition (the different versions of the Standard chair from 1934 to 1953, the Antony chair (1955), the Cité chair (1932), the Visiteur Colonial armchair (1952), …), which sum up perfectly Jean Prouvé’s understanding and innovation in construction. The chair is certainly the element of furniture that presents the most constraints for its designer. It must meet both the imperatives of strength and ergonomics while preserving its aesthetic qualities, which are made possible by an imperceptible technical
execution that serves the strength of its materials. This principal applies to the ensemble of Jean Prouvé’s creations and is equally as relevant to his work in architecture.
The recently opened Azzedine Alaia bookstore (18 rue de la Verrerie, Paris 75004) features Jean Prouvé furniture and books on his work published by Galerie Patrick Seguin.
On the occasion of the FIAC and its Hors Les Murs program, STUDIO PROUVÉ gives the floor to an emerging generation of architects, engineers and critics in order to consider the relationship between space and design techniques, processes of fabrication, structures and methods of implementation.
Public conferences will be live-streamed on pavillon-arsenal.com
Patrick Seguin, the charismatic French gallery owner, is somewhat of an anomaly in the world of art and design: neither fish nor fowl; someone who defies categorization and surprises at every turn. Known to some as a dealer in French architects and to others as a contemporary art collector, Seguin is, to put it simply, excited about a lot of things and wants to share them all with as many people as possible. As various projects of his take shape across the globe this autumn, AD PRO caught up with the multi-hyphenate dealer in his 17th-century Parisian home to talk collecting, the genius of Jean Prouvé, and why friends are important…
