Jean Prouve: Constructive Imagination

Prefabricated houses, bicycles, school desks and more demonstrate the versatility and utility of Jean Prouve's designs

French designer and self-taught architect Jean Prouve applied manufacturing techniques to the world of art and design, while also maintaining a social consciousness that informed his commissions. His commitment to "logic, balance and purity" led him to create standardized, affordable furniture and portable, packable houses: most notably the Maison Tropicale for use in France's African colonies. Despite the overtly industrial aspects of his oeuvre, Prouve's work is admired and collected the world over for its graceful yet utilitarian simplicity. Constructive Imagination unites over 100 pieces of Prouve's emblematic furniture and architectural works, bolstered by sketches and other archival material. The glossy bilingual volume includes five unpublished essays on Prouve, including one by former Museum of Modern Art, New York curator Juliet Kinchin. Jean Prouve was born in Paris in 1901. He opened his workshop in Nancy in 1923 and began producing furniture the following year, to immediate success. Prouve is best known for his innovative applications of new materials, with which he created extremely influential buildings and furniture-including several gas stations for Shell and Mobile. Working well past retirement, he died in Nancy in 1984.