AILLEURS — DÉC. 2009 / JANVIER 2010Jean Prouvé — Seoul
Cheong Kwon, 8 décembre 2009Jean Prouvé: The Poetics of the Technical Object, at the Daelim Contemporary Art Museum in Seoul, Korea, was presented in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum and showed the most comprehensive retrospective devoted to the work of the French designer, engineer, and industrialist. In the exhibition, were more than 45 furniture exhibits, 11 architectural models, original architectural elements, drawings, films, and computer animations for individual projects, comprising a comprehensive introduction to Prouvé’s technical approach and elaborating on the influence of his oeuvre within the history of 20th Century design.
The site of the exhibition itself was of great interest as a work of art. The Daelim Contemporary Art Museum is currently housed in a former private residence which was remodeled by French architect and, specialist in museum design, Vincent Cornu, who is the lead architect for the upcoming renovations of the Picasso Museum in Paris. Set in the Tongy-Dong art district of Seoul, one is immediately confronted with a masterful work of architecture from the exterior façade, that extends also into the interior skin. The setting of the exhibition truly made the viewing experience a mysterious pleasure in discovery with its’ set in alcoves and experimentation with natural lighting.
Prouvé’s (1901-1984) initial metière was as a blacksmith, and upon completing his studies, he opened his own workshops and studios to produce wrought iron lamps, chandeliers, hand rails and furniture. He grew up surrounded by the ideals and energy of his father’s art collective, "l'École de Nancy". I was raised, Prouvé says, in a world of artists and scholars, a world which nourished my mind. During this time, he helped establish the Union of Modern Artists whose manifesto read, We like logic, balance and purity.
In 1931, he opened the successful Ateliers Jean Prouvé. His main achievement during this period was transferring manufacturing technology from industry to architecture, without losing aesthetic qualities. As a specialist in the field of sheet metal processing, he was asked to work with some of the most innovative architects and designers of his time such as Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand, and later Oscar Nieymeyer on projects such as an aviation club, an army camp, and furniture. During the war, Prouvé was also politically active as a member of the Resistance and he was recognized for this involvement after the war by being named mayor of Nancy.
After the war, he built a factory in Maxéville where he produced furniture and undertook extensive continued architectural research on the uses of aluminum. At this time, hundreds of aluminum sheds of his design were sent to Africa. Prouvé tended to work on projects that reflected his socialist social values, and which included housing, youth centres and schools.
After Maxéville closed, he started Constructions Jean Prouvé. Notable independent architectural projects which were covered in the exhibition from this period was a house which he built for himself and his family in Nancy from leftovers from his former factory, a café - spa in Evian above Lake Geneva, a pavilion for the centennial celebration of aluminum set on the banks of the Seine in Paris, and the Abbey Pierre house for the homeless program of Emmaus founder, Abbé Pierre.
From 1958 to 1971, Jean Prouvé taught at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) in Paris, where he motivated and lastingly influenced a whole generation of young architects. The impressive series of drawings which he prepared his lectures at the CNAM have remained intact and served as an ongoing thread in the exhibition and presented Prouvé’s work in a range of thematic display panels. Swiss architects and architectural historians Bruno Reichlin and Franz Graf, explained the various building structures, various types of joinery, manual and mechanical production processes.
Prouvé’s technical vision always aimed to enable the greatest possible creative use of the functional potential of material and work – in both production and assembly. Since furniture was the only product which Prouvé was able to develop and produce from conception to production under his own control, the metal furniture was produced copiously in every studio and workshop. The style is set apart from the Bauhaus steel furniture of the time by his rejection of the steel tube technique. Prouvé had more faith in the durability and form of sheet metal, bent, pressed, and compressed, rather than welded. His designs speak of a work philosophy that includes knowledge of the materials at hand, a commitment to collaboration between artists and craftsmen, and an attention to evolving technical developments.
One of the statements by Prouvé, displayed in the exhibition was that designing a chair is as difficult and no different to, designing a house. In seeing his oeuvre, I would agree.
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