AN IMPORTANT AND RARE `SANATORIUM' ARMCHAIR, CIRCA 1932

This armchair is a variant of the model that Jean Prouvé designed for the Cité Universitaire in Nancy in 1930. Following the success of this commission he continued to produce additional works with slight modifications. The present chair, produced for sanatorium interiors, is constructed of sheet metal with closed-channel uprights with leather armrests. The Cité armchair was made of sheet metal with open-channel uprights and the canvas arms did not completely surround the uprights.

cf. A. Delorenzo, A. and C. Counord, Jean Prouvé/Serge Mouille, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1985, pp. 41 and 51 for examples of the Cité armchair;
Exhibition catalogue, Jean Prouvé: Constructeur, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1990, pp. 63, 64 and 213 for examples of the Cité armchair;
Galerie Jousse Seguin, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean Prouvé, Paris, 1998, pp. 130-133, 182, 189, 190 and 223 for examples of the Cité armchair;
P. Sulzer, Jean Prouvé, Complete Works Volume 1: 1917-1933, Basel, 1999, cover and pp. 204, 209 for examples of the Cité armchair and pp. 210-212, 215 for variant examples including the Sanatorium model;
Jean Prouvé: La Biennale di Venezia, Paris, 2000, pp. 40, 79, and 101 for examples of the Cité armchair;
Jean Prouvé, 1901-1984: Constructeur, Paris, 2001, pp. 48-49 and 122 for examples of the Cité armchair;
L. Allégret, V. Vaudou, eds., Jean Prouvé et Paris, Paris, 2001, pp. 141 and 229, fig. 27-28 for examples of the Cité armchair;
P. Giovanni and M. Agnelli, A Passion for Jean Prouvé From Furniture to Architecture: The Laurence and Patrick Seguin Collection, exhibition catalogue, Turin, 2013, pp. 122-127 for examples of the Cité armchair.