For Immediate Release
POST-WAR FRENCH ARCHITECTURAL
AND MODERNIST FURNITURE 1947 – 1958
Jean Prouvé, Serge Mouille, Pierre Jeanneret
Charlotte Perriand, Jacques Dumond, Le Corbusier
Curated by Jaewoong Chung/Vintage 20
November 10 – December 20, 2006
Opening Reception Friday, November 10th from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Tina Kim Fine Art is pleased to announce Post-War French Architectural and Modernist Furniture 1947 – 1958, the first exhibition of mid-century modern design to take place at the gallery. Curated by Jaewoong Chung of Vintage 20, a Manhattan based firm specializing in European mid-century furniture and decorative arts, the exhibition will bring together major works by the most influential architects and designers of the 20th century.
Among the objects on view will be the iconic Cité Armchair by Jean Prouvé designed in 1933 for the Cité Universitaire de Nancy. With its low build and angled backrest, this dynamic chair was one of Prouvé's earliest furniture designs. Other notable pieces by Prouvé will be his daybed with built-in swivelling tray (1954), a set of two wooden dismountable chairs (c. 1950) which belonged to the Prouvé family, a beautiful red Swing Jib lamp (c. 1950) and the designer's colorful bookcase, Bibliothèque pour la Maison de Mexique made in collaboration with Charlotte Perriand for the Cité Universitaire de Paris.
Also on view will be a rare Pierre Jeanneret teak table (1955) designed during his tenure in Chandigarh, India as Chief Architect and Urban Planning Designer of the landmark Modernist city. As Jeanneret designed relatively few pieces of furniture on his own, this table remains a seminal work within his oeuvre.
The exhibition will feature signature examples of furniture by Le Corbusier such as his wardrobe from the Maison du Brésil (1956-59) and a set of dorm stairs. These will be accompanied by a 1939 gray Bureau en Forme by Charlotte Perriand, a beautiful daybed (1956-59) and an array of her stools. Serge Mouille's highly sculptural ceiling fixtures and Jacques Dumond's unique coral red tied point woolen rug (1956) will be highlighted as well.
Tina Kim Fine Art is open to the public from Monday through Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. For more information, please contact Alissa Friedman at 212-716-1100 or by email: alissa@tkfa.com. Additional information about Tina Kim Fine Art is available online at www.tkfa.com.
Jean Prouvé (1901-1984) ranks amongst the most innovative engineers and designers of the 20th century. He began his career as a metal craftsman in Paris, and opened his own smithy in Nancy in 1923 where he produced his first furniture made of thin sheets of folded steel. In the early 1930s, he created what are considered his most famous pieces: the standard chair which led to huge furniture commissions from hospitals, schools and other institutions. The Second World War would change Prouvé's furniture, most obviously in the materials he used. With metal scarce, he turned to wood and later, aluminum. His work is renowned for its marriage of form and functionality, craftsmanship and industrial materials.
Serge Mouille (1922 – 1988) is widely celebrated for his spindly black lighting fixtures that he designed in the 1950s such as 1953 Oeil, 1954 Flammes and 1958 Saturn. In 1952, he became director of the silversmith department at the School of Applied Arts in Paris. Soon after, he was commissioned by Jacques Adnet to develop lighting designs in reaction to the too complicated Italian designs that flooded the 1950's market. Mouille made each of his lamps by hand, and never used machine technology to maximize production.
Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967) was an architect and designer best known for the work he did in collaboration with his cousin, Le Corbusier. In 1926 they published their manifesto "Five Points Towards a New Architecture" which laid out the principles best exemplified in their renowned building, the Villa Savoye (1928-31). In the 1950's he and Le Corbusier were invited by the Punjabi government to apply their city-planning principles to the design of low-cost governmental buildings for the city of Chandigarh.
Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) was a pioneer of modern furniture design. From 1927 – 37, she worked with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret to develop their systematized furnishings known as "machines for living". Although best remembered for her elegant modernist tubular steel furniture of the 1920's and 1930's, she also produced craft-based designs, such as the Synthese des Arts chair (1955). She is renowned for many interiors such as the Air France offices in London (1957) and Tokyo (1957) and the United Nations conference rooms in Geneva (1960), as well as the many collaborations she did with Jean Prouvé.
Jacques Dumond (1906 – 1988) is renowned for his maxim, "new material + new technique = new shape". After working in the studio of architect Pierre Patout, he cofounded and became vice-president of the Institute d'Esthetique Industrielle. He later was director of the journal Art présent and taught furniture design at the École Nationale Supérieure des Art Décoratifs.
Le Corbusier (1887 – 1965) is widely considered to be the most important architect of the 20th century. He is perhaps best known for his innovations in urban planning and his solutions for low-income housing. The same modernist ideas found in Le Corbusier's architecture were also expressed in his designs for simple, streamlined furniture. The tubular steel furniture that he co-designed with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand projected a new rationalist aesthetic that came to epitomize the International Style.
