Jean PROUVÉ (1901-1984) Chair " N° 305 " also... Lot 46

Jean PROUVÉ (1901-1984) Chair " N° 305 " also called " Métropole N° 305 " and commonly called " Standard ". Back and seat in thermoformed beech plywood, resting on one of the rear legs forming the backrest uprights in folded and black lacquered steel sheet and on front legs and a seat structure in curved and black lacquered tube, four aluminum fixing screws. Circa 1950 Used condition. Condition report available upon request. Height : 80,5 cm - Width : 40,5 cm - Depth : 47 cm Provenance : Saint-Lô. Bibliography : - Peter Sulzer - Jean Prouvé complete works, vol.3, 1944-1954 - Birkhäuser Publishing, Basel, 2005. Identical models and plans reproduced on pages 208 to 211. A modest, discreet and humanistic personality, Jean Prouvé wanted to create durable furniture for the greatest number of people through industry. Steel, with its modernity, fascinated him. He trained in the mastery of the metal technique as an apprentice. But being a blacksmith is not enough for him, he wants to build a new world. For him, man is on earth to create. He moved on to construction without any training as an architect or designer. He thinks of furniture in the same way as the habitat. In his constructions, everything is thought to be assembled in a practical way: wood with metal and metal with glass. He wants large reproducible series and light materials for transportation. The house of his dreams is a factory-made house: the prefabricated house. His utopia will be able to develop in the context of the Second World War. He will create houses and furniture for disaster victims. However, concrete will be most often privileged by the public policy to the detriment of steel which is in shortage. The public sector having a particular interest for him, Jean Prouvé develops a catalog of standard models for schools, offices and hospitals. Like Charlotte Perriand, the cult designer honored at our inaugural sale with a superb Plots bookcase sold for €168,000, he participated in the France-United States Memorial Hospital project in Saint-Lô. He designed an ovoid operating room with an organic, luminous and ventilated architecture within a "tree" construction designed by architect Paul Nelson. One of the most famous models, the "Standard" chair, also known as the "Metropole", is an office chair designed in 1934. There are different variants: the 300 can be disassembled, the "all wood" is entirely made of wood and the 305 exists in several colors. The seat and backrest of the 305 variant are made of wood while the rear legs are made of welded and bent steel and counterbalance the tubular thinness of the front legs. The rear legs, characteristic of this iconic model, are wide and look like airplane wings. A symbol of modernity, they connect the seat and backrest. They are designed to support all the weight in the back and to swing freely. This chair is designed to be resistant and to last over time. The 305 variant, which has become one of the most cult seats of the design, was edited by the Ateliers de Jean Prouvé in the 1950s. It is reissued since the 2000s by Vitra. These reissues are recognizable by the robotic and continuous welding of the back leg. Collected or reissued, the "Standard" chair will continue to sublimate our interiors for a long time by its timelessness.