Jean Prouvé. Constructive Imagination

French designer and self-taught architect Jean Prouvé 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, Prouvé’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 The glossy bilingual volume includes five unpublished essays on Prouvé, including one by former Museum of Modern Art, New York curator Juliet Kinchin.