Jean Prouvé

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Jean Prouvé (1981)

Jean Prouvé (born April 8, 1901 in Paris , † March 23, 1984 in Nancy ) was a French architect and designer .

As a trained blacksmith, he succeeded in establishing trend-setting architecture and innovative furniture solutions. His main effort was to transfer production techniques from industry to architecture without losing sight of the aesthetic quality of the result. He is considered one of the most outstanding European designers .

Life

Prouvé was born in 1901 as the second child of the painter Victor Prouvé (co-founder of the Nancy School ) and the pianist Marie Duhamel. In 1916 he began an apprenticeship as a blacksmith with Émile Robert in Enghien-les-Bains near Paris. After completing his apprenticeship, he continued his training with Adalbert Szabo in Paris until 1921. In 1924 Prouvé opened his own workshop in Nancy and married Madeleine Schott. In 1927, after he became acquainted with Le Corbusier , Pierre Chareau and Robert Mallet-Stevens, he received his first major commission from Robert Mallet-Stevens to design the entrance gate to Villa Reifenberg. In 1929 Jean Prouvé was granted his first patent for doors made of sheet steel, in 1930 he became a founding member of the Union des Artistes Moderne - UAM, and in 1931 he converted his company into a public limited company (Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé SA) and at the same time moved to Nancy . From 1940 to 1944 Prouvé participated in the Resistance and was mayor of Nancy for a few months in 1944/45. In 1947 he moved his company from Nancy to Maxéville and employed 200 people. In 1949 Aluminum Française took part in the Maxéville workshops, and a year later Jean Prouvé was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor . In 1952 he was forbidden from accessing his workshops by the majority shareholder Aluminum Française . In 1956, after having worked for Aluminum Française, he founded “Les constructions Jean Prouvé” together with Michel Bataille . In 1971, as a non-architect, he was chairman of the jury for the competition at the Center Pompidou in Paris, which sparked international discussions. In 1981 Jean Prouvé was awarded the Dutch Erasmus Prize , and in 1982 the "Great Architecture Prize of the City of Paris". In 1984 Jean Prouvé died in Nancy.

As a designer, Jean Prouvé constantly devoted himself to improving and optimizing production processes. Many of his architectural works are demountable and designed for mass production. Jean Prouvé dedicated a substantial part of his work to the design of furniture. His furniture should not only be functional and aesthetically pleasing, but also inexpensive to manufacture. To this day is famous z. B. his Fauteuil de Grand Repos , which is now also being re-manufactured. Several famous architects and designers cite Jean Prouvé as a role model who inspired them through his work, including Renzo Piano , Jean Nouvel and Norman Foster .

"In Jean Prouvé, architect and engineer unite, or more correctly, architect and builder, because everything he touches and designs immediately takes on an elegant and plastic shape, with brilliantly implemented solutions in terms of durability and industrial production." ( Le Corbusier )

architecture

Since Jean Prouvé was not an architect, he mostly had to work in collaboration or as a consultant. The term “designer” therefore best describes his status. His houses and facade elements were often developed under time constraints and with the requirement of only temporary use. Therefore, only a few buildings have survived to this day. Many designs did not go beyond the production of a prototype despite originally planned series production. Despite his autodidactic status, Jean Prouvé has achieved a firm place in the history of architecture. His architectural work was honored with a large exhibition in Arles in the La Grande Halle, Parc des Ateliers, in 2017-2018 , which showed many of Jean Prouvé's original architectural designs.

Selection of the most important architectural works

Petrol station
in the Vitra plant , Weil am Rhein
  • 1927: Entrance gate of the Villa Reifenberg, Paris (Arch .: Robert Mallet-Stevens)
  • 1935: Fliegerclub Roland Garros , Buc (Arch .: Marcel Lods)
  • 1935–39: Volkshaus, Clichy (Eugené Beaudonin and Marcel Lods)
  • 1948: Development of the Coque system
  • 1948–51: Meridian Hall for the Paris Observatory (Arch .: André Rémondet)
  • 1950: Shed roofs for the Mame printing company, Tours
  • 1951: Facade of the Messepalast, Lille (architects: Paul Herbé and Maurice Louis Gauthier)
  • 1953–54: Facade of the Square Mozart residential building, Paris (Arch .: Lionel Mirabeau)
  • 1954: Prouvé House, Nancy ; Centenary Pavilion for Aluminum Française , Paris
  • 1956: Pump room, Evian
  • 1967: Facade Tour Nobel, La Défense , Paris (architects: Jean de Mailly and Jaques Depussé)
  • 1968: Petrol stations for the Total company , exhibition hall, Grenoble (Arch .: Claude Prouvé)
  • 1975: Campanile at Notre-Dame-du-Haut
  • 1980/81: Radar tower, Ouessant island (Arch .: J.-M. Jaquin)

Furniture

Jean Prouvé chaises

As a trained blacksmith, metal was the preferred material for Jean Prouvé. However, through profound knowledge of materials and skillful use of joining techniques, he also succeeded in combining it perfectly with wood. He preferred a "visualization" of the forces that occurred and thus used the materials in a manner that was typical of him, some of which were oversized. As a craftsman, he only designed a few pieces on the drawing board - his employees had to build prototypes with often shadowy sketches and correct them accordingly until they were ready for series production. The close connection between design, prototype construction and production of the series products became one of the foundations of his success and ultimately stopped with the takeover of his company by Aluminum Française .

Selection of the most important furniture designs

  • 1931: Furniture for the Cité Universitaire de Nancy (u a chair.. Cité )
  • 1934: Standard No 4 chair
  • 1936: School desk with two chairs
  • 1945: Lit Flavigny bed
  • 1948: Standard chair
  • 1949: Compas table
  • 1950: Gueridon table, Granito table , Potence lamp
  • 1951: Tabbouret stool No. 307
  • 1952: Trapeze table
  • 1953: Bahut sideboard
  • 1954: Seating for the Cité Universitaire in Antony

literature

  • Otto Maier: Jean Prouvé Constructeur - an exhibition in Paris In: bauwelt , issue 3/1991, pp. 78–79
  • Peter Sulzer: Jean Prouvé. Oeuvre complète / Complete Works , Volume 1-4, Basel, Boston, 1995 / 1999-2008
  • Peter Sulzer: Jean Prouvé. Highlights 1917-1944 Basel, 2002
  • François Moulin: Jean Prouvé. Le Maître du métal. La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg, 2001, ISBN 978-2-7165-0381-5 .
  • Nils Peters: Jean Prouvé 1901-1984. The dynamics of creation . Taschen Verlag , Cologne 2006, ISBN 978-3-8228-4876-0 .
  • vitra : Jean Prouvé, Charles & Ray Eames: the great constructors - parallels and differences; constructive furniture. (German, French, English), Vitra, Weil am Rhein 2002, ISBN 3-931936-37-6 .

Movie

  • Jean Prouvé's home. TV documentary, France, 2004, 24 min., Directors: Richard Copans, Stan Neumann, production: arte France, series: Baukunst, summary by arte

Web links

Commons : Jean Prouvé  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christina Haberlik: The Architect of Architects. Vitra Design is reconstructing a petrol station of the industrial building pioneer Jean Prouvé on its factory premises. In: the daily newspaper , July 18, 2003.
  2. ^ Jean Prouvé - Architect for Better Days. Luma Arles, October 21, 2017 - May 1, 2018 (English, French).
personal data
SURNAME Prouvé, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French architect and designer
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1984
Place of death Nancy