una passione per jean prouvé dal mobile alla casa
Transcription
una passione per jean prouvé dal mobile alla casa
UNA PASSIONE PER JEAN PROUVÉ DAL MOBILE ALLA CASA LA COLLEZIONE DI LAURENCE E PATRICK SEGUIN 6 APRILE / 8 SETTEMBRE 2013 PRESS KIT PINACOTECA AGNELLI VIA NIZZA 230/103 – 10126 TORINO www.pinacoteca-agnelli.it A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 press release A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 The Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli presents A Passion for Jean Prouvé, an exhibition devoted to the furniture and architecture by the French designer Jean Prouvé from the collection owned by Laurence and Patrick Seguin. Laurence and Patrick Seguin discovered the work of Jean Prouvé, in the late 1980s, through his furniture designs. They were immediately struck by the unique aesthetic of these pieces, where the artistic skill lies wholly in imperceptible technical mastery devoted to enhancing the strength of the materials. While at the time very few people had even heard of Jean Prouvé, their enthusiasm for his captivating lines was immediate, a revelation that became a true passion. The couple then began to take an interest in Jean Prouvé’s work as a whole, of which the furniture is only a part, going on to discover his architectural designs. With the idea that “there is no difference between constructing a piece of furniture and constructing a building”, he applied the same design approach to both fields, basing all of his work on it. From the opening of their gallery in Paris in 1989, Laurence and Patrick Seguin began to work in earnest promoting the creations of Jean Prouvé, with the result that the most important international collectors and the most prestigious museums now have works by the French architect and designer in their collections. Indeed today he is held to be one of the key exponents of twentieth century design. Laurence and Patrick Seguin are now presenting a number of works from their private collection for the first time: around 40 pieces by Jean Prouvé, most of which are prototypes or extremely rare, from the armchair designed for the University dormitory of Nancy in 1932 to the light armchair created for the University of Antony in 1954, to the furniture produced for Africa. The same principles of functionality and rational fabrication that the designer applied to furniture often destined for the public sector, can also be found in Prouvé’s architectural designs: the same solid structures feature clever mechanisms for assembly and organisation that enable both the furniture and the constructions to be easily moved, disassembled and modified. The Maison Metropole (8x12 meters) an aluminium construction won in 1949 a Ministry of Education competition for “mass-producible rural school with classroom and teacher accommodation”: a masterpiece of nomadic housing, followed the portico principle patented by Prouvé in 1939. The Ateliers Jean Prouvé built two of them, one in Bouqueval, near Paris, and the other in Vantoux in Moselle. This one has been mounted for the first time on the Lingotto track in Turin. Taking four people three consecutive days to assemble, a stop-motion film has been made of the construction process, with video footage streamed on the Pinacoteca website. The Laurence et Patrick Seguin collection includes contemporary art that coexist at their home with Jean Prouvé furniture. Some have a liason with Jean Prouvé, as the mobile made by Alexander Calder for Prouvé; and the one by Richard Prince, who has made especially for them an artwork out of a Jean Prouvé table. They decide to show these works at the Pinacoteca Agnelli together with the ones by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Adam Mcewen and Marc Grotjhan. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue in Italian and English published by the Pinacoteca Agnelli. n A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 IMAGES Download high resolution images log in at press are at http://pinacoteca-agnelli.it/visit/area-stampa/ PRESS OFFICE Pinacoteca Agnelli Silvia Macchetto Tel +39 3406350241 [email protected] Galerie Patrick Seguin Eva Dalla Venezia Tel +33 147003235 [email protected] PINACOTECA GIOVANNI E MARELLA AGNELLI via Nizza 230, 10126 TORINO tel +39 011 0062713 – Fax +39 011 0062712 www.pinacoteca-agnelli.it Tickets 10€ adults 8€ reduced groups, over 65, conventions 4€ schools and 6 to 16 years free 0 to 6 years, disabled, Torino+Piemonte card Ticket Office Inside 8 Gallery from ABook Lingotto | on track top level - 4th floor / last entrance 6.15pm Opening Hours 10am – 7pm / Closed on Monday Guided tours on request in Italian , English, French and German Tel. +39 011 0062713 Disabled people wheelchair Access to the Pinacoteca and to Maison Metropole Bookshop ABookLingotto at groud floor How to reach http://pinacoteca-agnelli.it/visit/info-2/ A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Jean Prouvé Metropole aluminium house, 26.2 x 40 ft ca. 1949, provenance: France Jean Prouvé (1901-1984) was a twentieth-century pioneer in the innovative production of furniture and architecture. Son of one of the founders of the Ecole de Nancy and godchild of Emile Gallé, he was imbued with the creative philosophy of a group whose principal aim was an art/industry alliance offering access to all. Determined to be a man of his time, Prouvé explored all the current technical resources in metalworking, soon abandoning wrought iron for bent sheet steel: in the thirties he produced metal joinery, his early furniture, architectural components and knockdown buildings, all in small series. Of the opinion that “in their construction there is no difference between a piece of furniture and a house”, he developed a “constructional philosophy” based on functionality and rational fabrication. Free of all artifice, the resultant aesthetic chimed with the doctrine of the Union of Modern Artists, of which Prouvé – with Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand – was a founder member. The same principles were applied to the making of furniture – often intended for the public sector – and to the architecture of the postwar boom. Astute assembly systems for hardwearing structures meant that furniture and buildings alike could be readily dismantled, moved about and modified. The Prouvé blend of avant-garde spirit and humanist concerns has lost none of its relevance. The originality of his different periods is repeatedly rediscovered, from the first items for the University dormitory in Nancy in 1932 through those for a similar facility in Antony in 1954; the furniture for Africa; and the knockdown postwar schools and “little architecture machines” of the sixties. Working with the best architects, Jean Prouvé left his stamp on many famous examples of twentieth-century building, most of which are now classified historic monuments. A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Jean Prouvé Metropole aluminium house, 26.2 x 40 ft ca. 1949, provenance: France Winner of a 1949 Ministry of Education competition for a “mass-producible rural school with classroom and teacher accommodation”, the Ateliers Jean Prouvé built two of them, one in Vantoux in Moselle and the other in Bouqueval, near Paris. Like the school, the accommodation followed the portico principle patented by Prouvé in 1939 and used in a range of postwar programs, notably in the housing field. The Métropole House had been finalized in 1948. Adaptable to any site, it came in two sizes, 8x8 meters and 8x12 meters. The second of these, displayed at the Home Show in Paris in 1950, was the teacher’s house. Its all-steel structure comprised two load-bearing portal frames, which defined the interior space while leaving total freedom for the layout. The envelope used double-sided facade panels with integrated sash windows and shutters retracting into ribbed aluminium housings. There was also a glassed-in winter garden and a roof of juxtaposable aluminium roofing slabs. User comfort was given close consideration: the interior was easy on the eye, notably thanks to the use of wood, and temperature control went well beyond the standard specifications of the time. Despite Prouvé’s keenness to become involved in housing production on a mass scale in the early 1950s, ultimately only fifteen examples of the Métropole House were built, mainly as part of the “Sans Souci” housing estate at Meudon-la-Forêt. n A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 a passion for Jean Prouvé The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 CATALOG A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Intro Ginevra Elkann With this exhibition, the Pinacoteca Agnelli offers the public a collection of wholly unique French design and architecture that has never gone on show before. During the course of their lives, Patrick and Laurence Seguin have collected the chairs, lamps, furniture, documents and architecture created by an architectural innovator: Jean Prouvé. Thanks to his nomadic homes, built using poor and easily found materials, such as aluminum, he was a pioneer and brilliant inventor. For Prouvé, there was no difference between a piece of furniture and a house: both had to be functional and made from hardwearing materials, and include ingenious mechanisms. Patrick and Laurence were very soon fascinated by Prouvé and began collecting his works in the 1980s, when few people as yet appreciated his work. Their light-filled, welcoming Paris home, reflects this passion for the designer who favored simple yet innovative and modern lines; it is wholly furnished with chairs, lamps and other items by the French architect. Certain expedients, such as replacing an original seat with a new one (while the original is kept in storage), make it possible to enjoy these pieces on a daily basis, without affecting their perfect condition. For the Seguins, the collecting passion was soon transformed into something more. The accumulation of chairs, doors, architectural models and nomadic homes led Patrick and Laurence to transform their collection into a business, opening a gallery specializing in 20th-century French design in 1989. The gallery very soon became a point of reference for French design and has helped make the names of Prouvé, Perriand, Jeanneret and Royère known throughout the world. Nowadays, their two sides, as collectors and as gallery owners, live peacefully side by side, each contributing to the other. Their passion for these objects ensures that Patrick and Laurence attend to every aspect of their work with the greatest care and professionalism, from publishing to graphic design and the layout of exhibitions. For this exhibition too, Patrick and Laurence have worked with passion on a project that has been shared right from the start, and made possible by their great generosity. I therefore wish to thank them warmly for their dedication and the care they have shown with regard to every aspect of the exhibition. Finally, I would like to stress the educational value of this project: it constitutes a unique opportunity for students of architecture and anyone interested in this field to take a close-up view of how Jean Prouvé’s houses were constructed. The Maison Métropole, an important example of the nomadic architecture, has been reconstructed on the roof of the Lingotto by a team of four over a period of three days. Students and all those interested were able to watch the various construction phases close-up thanks to the live streaming accessible via the Pinacoteca site. I find it interesting that Jean Prouvé’s Maison Métropole should maintain a dialogue with the Lingotto for a few months, not only with the original building of the 1920s, but also with the more recent transformation by Renzo Piano. And I believe that one thing emerges clearly from this architectural comparison: the topicality and modernity of Prouvé. n Ginevra Elkann President Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Intro Laurence and Patrick Seguin Jean Prouvé has been a significant part of both our professional work and our personal collection for almost twenty-five years now. The collection is made up of mid-20th century French furniture, demountable houses by Jean Prouvé, and contemporary art, and over the years Prouvé has come to represent its core element: his brand of modernity prefigures so many of today’s approaches—there is real dialogue between his furniture and contemporary art—and we have the pleasure of living with his work on a daily basis. A native of Nancy, in eastern France, Prouvé was equipped by his upbringing with a spirit of generous idealism and a taste for hands-on experimentation. He was that rare bird, a designer proficient in every aspect of the creative process: drawing, materials, tools. What makes his work so distinctive is that every item corresponds to a specific functional need and was designed with mass production in mind. His many chairs and armchairs, for example, are especially indicative of this modus operandi: his “Standard” chair was the most prolific of them, even if many of its variants were only ever produced as prototypes or small series. Initially trained as a wrought-iron craftsman, Prouvé never lost the intimate—we might even say empathetic—knowledge of metal that finds such sensual expression in his work. Work whose minimalist elegance reflects his indefatigable pursuit of a quintessential union of form and efficiency. It is never easy to convey exactly what gives a work unity, but in Prouvé’s case the key was mass production. More than a quarter of a century separated those first chairs of 1929 from the last, in the 1950s, and throughout those years Prouvé fought single-mindedly for his convictions: to the critics of his credo he riposted that mass-production was vital to human progress. He saw himself as making a contribution to the public good: exemplary furniture for local public sector bodies, government offices, and universities; and mass-produced, demountable buildings that would leave no lasting footprint. This enduring quest made Prouvé a true twentieth-century visionary, a crusader for a new world where creative designers would be sensitive to a radically changing social, economic, and political context. Aesthetic pleasure, then, is not all his work has to offer: just as affecting are the man and his ideals. We would sincerely like to thank Ginevra Elkann for the confidence she has shown in us with her invitation to present our collection in the distinguished setting of the Pinacoteca Agnelli. Ginevra is curating a series devoted to “personal collections” and we are very honored to see our own included in a program that studies the essence of a collection and how it manifests itself in the world. Without seeking comparisons between two very distinct industrial adventures—Agnelli and Prouvé—we love the idea of bringing them together here. Especially as Jean Prouvé’s ideal was that building should benefit from production techniques previously restricted to the automobile and aviation industries. n Laurence and Patrick Seguin A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Jean Prouvé’s biography (1901-1984) Jean Prouvé was a twentieth-century pioneer in the innovative production of furniture and architecture. Son of one of the founders of the Ecole de Nancy and godchild of Emile Gallé, he was imbued with the creative philosophy of a group whose principal aim was an art/industry alliance offering access to all. Determined to be a man of his time, Prouvé explored all the current technical resources in metalworking, soon abandoning wrought iron for bent sheet steel: in the thirties he produced metal joinery, his early furniture, architectural components and knockdown buildings, all in small series. Of the opinion that “in their construction there is no difference between a piece of furniture and a house”, he developed a “constructional philosophy” based on functionality and rational fabrication. Free of all artifice, the resultant aesthetic chimed with the doctrine of the Union of Modern Artists, of which Prouvé – with Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand – was a founder member. The same principles were applied to the making of furniture – often intended for the public sector – and to the architecture of the postwar boom. Astute assembly systems for hardwearing structures meant that furniture and buildings alike could be readily dismantled, moved about and modified. The Prouvé blend of avant-garde spirit and humanist concerns has lost none of its relevance. The originality of his different periods is repeatedly rediscovered, from the first items for the University dormitory in Nancy in 1932 through those for a similar facility in Antony in 1954; the furniture for Africa; and the knockdown postwar schools and “little architecture machines” of the sixties. Working with the best architects, Jean Prouvé left his stamp on many famous examples of twentieth-century building, most of which are now classified historic monuments. n A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Furniture Jean Prouvé stands out among his “designer” contemporaries by actually being a maker of things as well. This “factory man”, as he called himself, insisted on this difference as underpinning the originality of his approach. It was in this spirit that in the late 1920s he began producing his first architectural components, as well as furniture in radical contrast with the emergent modernist trend. From there on in all his creations, from 1930 to 1955, adhered rigorously to a set of principles rooted in his perfect mastery of his preferred material: “Sheet steel was my inspiration,” he declared, and for him furniture had to fit its purpose, while obeying strict criteria of comfort and robustness. Bent metal frames, whose strength was considerable, not to say excessive, were combined with visible adjustment mechanisms and assembly systems. The quest for lightness meant resorting to casters, lightweight materials like aluminum, and slimmed-down profiles, all with no loss of strength. The outcome—thoroughgoing “machines” for sitting, working, sitting at table, and storage—offered a perfect marriage of form and function, while generating a distinctive aesthetic pleasure with an elegance of line that fused solidity and airiness. The mass-produced series urged by Prouvé were made on a medium scale, notably the “standard” chair that appeared in different versions between 1934 and 1959. These illustrations of the Prouvé modus operandi reveal a host of variations, each a response to specific circumstances and outlets in a range of materials, colors and manufacturing methods; as such, they rounded off a succession of prototypes indicative of unremitting research. This perspective on Prouvé’s furniture and an architectural oeuvre that amounted to much more than just construction components demonstrates the comprehensiveness of his agenda at the same time as it foregrounds what he saw as the fundamental interconnection between his different fields of creation. n A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Architecture After making knockdown houses for war victims in Lorraine at the end of the War, the Ateliers Prouvé committed to the French government’s definitive reconstruction program, involving not only housing, but also infrastructures, notably schools. Equipped with all the technology needed for mass production of metal components, Jean Prouvé saw prefabrication as the optimal technical and economic solution to the situation. So he honed a system he had patented in 1939 and improved during the war, a metal skeleton using axial portal frames, combined with various kinds of modular facade panels. This constructional principle was Prouvé’s response to the Ministry of Education’s 1949 competition for “a massproducible one-room rural school with teacher accommodation.” The specifications called for buildings that would lend themselves to long-run production and quick and easy erection on any kind of site. The Ateliers Jean Prouvé were among the winners and in May 1950 were given an order for two prototype units: one for the small municipality of Bouqueval, near Paris, the other requested by parliamentarian Raymond Mondon for the village of Vantoux, near Metz. The school With its big glass doors, extensive roofed play area and covered access balcony that also served as a sunshade, the 24 x 8 meter classroom building had the look of an open-air school. The rear facade, however, had a more overtly built appearance: panels with portholes and aluminum-clad facade components with slide-away shutters and windows. The grid created by the pressed steel portal frames provided free-flowing volumes and rational arrangement of the open play area, classroom, workshop/dining room, toilet facilities and cloakroom. The aluminum panels were either single or double faced, with extensive interior use of wood. The teacher’s accommodation The accommodation (12 x 8 meters) utilized the same construction technique and was part of the Métropole house series Prouvé had proposed as a mass-producible individual housing model. Its all-steel structure comprised 2 load-bearing portal frames, which structured the interior while leaving a free hand for layout. The envelope was made up of mass-produced double-sided panels including sash windows and shutters that slid away into the ribbed aluminum casing, a glazed winter garden, and a roof of juxtaposed aluminum slabs. User comfort had been meticulously considered: in visual terms via the use of wood indoors, and with temperature control in advance of the standards of the time. The two units were delivered at the beginning of the 1950 school year, together with appropriate wood and painted sheet steel furniture from the Ateliers Jean Prouvé. While the actual school buildings were identical, a few construction details— notably the winter garden—made the residences different. These two schools were to remain the sole examples of the sizable series Prouvé had hoped for. A little later he came up with another building system for schools which was more widely used. Despite Prouvé’s keenness to find a niche in the mass-produced housing program of the early 1950s, only a dozen examples of the Métropole house, displayed at the Salon des Arts Ménagers in Paris in January 1950, were ever produced. Most of them were erected on the Sans Souci housing estate in Meudon-la-Forêt, near Paris. The Vantoux school and its furnishings have been a classified Historical Monument since 2001. n A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Published by Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli & Galerie Patrick Seguin Publication date : April 2013 Ginevra Elkann and the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli invited Patrick and Laurence Seguin -Parisian art dealers specalised in French mid XXth century design- to exhibit for the first time their own personal collection in the famous Lingotto space, Turino (Italy). This fantastic architecture, which used to be Fiat’s manufacture and entirely renovated by Renzo Piano, will serve as wonderful setting for the Seguins rare pieces of Jean Prouvé furniture, architecture and chosen contemporary artworks. This exhibition -from Spring through Fall 2013- will be accompanied by a rich catalogue co-edited by Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli & Galerie Patrick Seguin. When Laurence and Patrick Seguin discovered the work of Jean Prouvé in the late 1980s, they were immediately struck by the unique aesthetic of these pieces. The couple quickly took an interest in his work as a whole, of which the furniture is only a part, going on to discover his architectural designs. The lavishly illustrated exhibition catalogue presents a unique way to explore the wholly work of Jean Prouvé; from design to architecture. Through a selection of Highlights one may also appreciate Prouvé’s relevance to contemporary art. This hard covered 280 pages exhibition catalogue present the Seguin unique collection: The latter is first approached globally with a chapter devoted to their interior in their residence in Paris. Prouvé’s work is then studied specifically with each model of design and architecture elements accompanied with a full caption and several archive documents (drawing, archive photographs, sketches…). A Chapter is then specifically devoted to Prouvé’s Aluminium Métropole House, which will be presented on the Lingotto’s roof. One may truly apprehend the creator’s avant-garde in the field of architecture with the account of this specific commission. The narrative is richly illustrated with archive documents and sketches. Lastly, this authoritative catalogue will focus on the exhibition itself through numerous images of the show in the wonderful Lingotto space. A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Agnelli Galerie Patrick Seguin ISBN: 978-88-905394-1-1 280 pages – IT / EN $ 120 – 90 euros A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 Demountable wooden chair CB 22, 1947 Solid wood, moded plywood and aluminum tube, 30.7 x 15.7 x 16.1 inches. Sedia legno smontabile CB 22, 1947 Legno massiccio, compensato curvato e tubolare alluminio, 78 x 40 x 41 cm. Jean RoyèRe Ours Polaire sofa, 1947 Divano Ours Polaire, 1947 Jean PRouvé Guéridon Bas Africa, 1952 Centrale table, 1954 Swing-jib lamp Africa no. 602, 1952 Cité chair, 1932 Guéridon Bas Africa, 1952 Tavolo Centrale, 1954 Lampada da parete Africa n o 602, 1952 Sedia Cité, 1932 GeoRGes Jouve Patte d’ours ceramic, ca. 1950 Ceramiche Patte d’ours, verso 1950 Hans-Peter Feldmann One Dollar Bill with Red Nose, 2008 alexander Calder Saché, 1974 Jean-miCHel Basquiat Asbestos, 1981 Standing Man, 1981 Right Eye – Left Eye, 1981 serge mouille Saturne lamp, 1953 Lampada Saturne, 1953 28 68 Bouqueval, France, 1949 Bouqueval, Francia, 1949 School, Bouqueval, France, 1949 (Henri Prouvé, architect) View of the covered playground. Scuola, Bouqueval, Francia, 1949 (Henri Prouvé arch.) Veduta dal cortile. 180 Façade panel with porthole windows, 1949 Aluminum, wood and glass 116 x 35.8 x 2.8 inches Provenance: School in Bouqueval, France. Pannello di facciata a oblò, 1949 Alluminio, legno e vetro 295 x 91 x 7 cm Provenienza: Scuola a Bouqueval, Francia. A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 QUOTES A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 “Jean Prouvé combines the soul of an engineer with that of an architect”. Le Corbusier “It was sheet steel that inspired me – folded, pressed, ribbed, then welded”. Jean Prouvé “The problems to be solved in the making of furniture are just as complex as those to be solved in large construction projects”. Jean Prouvé “There is no difference between the making of furniture and the building of a house: the materials, calculations, and sketches are strictly similar”. Jean Prouvé “What a spirit of invention and synthesis; what determination in the use of the most modest of systems and materials”. Oscar Niemeyer on Jean Prouvé “What I find unacceptable is decorative stuff: for me anything purely decorative is deplorable and deleterious. I have always thought that a well designed, well built structure automatically provides an appropriate aesthetic, whereas decoration provides only a makeshift one”. Jean Prouvé “Design nothing that can’t be built”. Jean Prouvé “The house of my dreams is made in a factory”. Jean Prouvé “Leave the tree in the forest… so that your joinery can be in metal.” Jean Prouvé “By its very composition, metal establishes its guiding aesthetic”. Jean Prouvé “Made up of four specialists, each assembly team left the factory early in the morning on a truck loaded with the components of a complete house. In the evening they returned, the work finished and the house occupied”. Jean Prouvé “Jean Prouvé represents the model builder: intelligent and socially committed”. Renzo Piano “On Quai Alexandre III Jean Prouvé has built the handsomest house I know of: the most perfect object for living in, the most dazzling thing ever constructed. It’s all the real, built outcome of a lifetime of research. And it was commissioned by Abbé Pierre!” Le Corbusier Fondazione Pinacoteca Del Lingotto Giovanni e Marella Agnelli Founders Fondatori Giovanni Agnelli Marella Caracciolo Agnelli Margaret Agnelli De Pahlen John Elkann Lapo Elkann Ginevra Elkann Paolo Fresco Gianluigi Gabetti Francesca Gentile Camerana Franzo Grande Stevens Alessandro Nasi Board of Directors Comitato Direttivo Honorary President Presidente Onorario Marella Caracciolo Agnelli President Presidente Ginevra Elkann A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin Collection Una passione per Jean Prouvé Dal mobile alla casa La collezione di Laurence e Patrick Seguin 6 April/8 September 2013 6 aprile/8 settembre 2013 From an idea by Da un’idea di Ginevra Elkann, Laurence & Patrick Seguin Director of organization Direzione organizzativa Marcella Beraudo di Pralormo Organisation Organizzazione Sabine Lavignotte, Hugo Laquerbe Secretaries Segreteria Emma Roccato, Elena Olivero Members Membri Gianluigi Gabetti John Elkann Lapo Elkann Filippo Beraudo di Pralormo Sergio Marchionne Secretary Segretario Gianluca Ferrero Exhibit Design Progetto di allestimento Hugo Laquerbe Laurence & Patrick Seguin Educational Project Progetto educativo per la mostra Alessandro Fabbris e Beatrice Zanelli QR Codes and collaboration for adults’ educational projects QR Codes e collaborazione ai progetti educativi per adulti Marta Barcaro Board of Syndics Collegio Sindacale President Presidente Mario Pia Administration Amministrazione Mara Abbà Luigi Demartini Pietro Fornier Director Direttrice Marcella Beraudo di Pralormo Press office Ufficio Stampa Silvia Macchetto Catalogue Catalogo Publisher Editore Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli Galerie Patrick Seguin Project director Direttore del Progetto Michael Roy Graphic design Grafica Sophie Dupriez Texts Testi Ginevra Elkann Laurence & Patrick Seguin Catherine Coley Translations Traduzioni Lucien Comoy Angela Maria Piga John Tittensor Print – Color separation Stampa e fotolito Litho Art New, Torino All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photocopy, microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. Tutti i diritti riservati. Nessuna parte di questo libro può essere riprodotta in alcuna forma, stampa, fotocopia, microfilm o qualsiasi altro mezzo senza il consenso scritto dell’editore. ISBN: 978-88-905394-1-1 EAN: 9788890539411 Copyright deposit: April 2013 Corporate Development Consultant Paolo Landi Insurance Assicurazione Reale Mutua Assicurazione Transport Trasporto Gander & White Wade Fine Art Logistic Under the patronage of Con il patrocinio di Main Sponsor Technical Sponsors Sponsor tecnici Media Partners A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The Laurence and Patrick Seguin collection Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli via Nizza 230/103 - 10126 Torino 6 april - 8 september 2013 SPONSOR The passion of Borbonese Main sponsor of the exhibition A passion for Jean Prouvé From furniture to architecture The collection of Laurence and Patrick Seguin A deep interest in art and design lead to an encounter between two outstanding reality in the town of Turin: the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli and Borbonese. Borbonese, a brand linked to art as per tradition and passion, chooses to be main sponsor of the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli for the exhibition dedicated to Jean Prouvé, the French designer known for his rationalism and modernism and acknowledged as one of the most influential role in the history of the XX century design. Jean Prouvé has developed a “constructive thinking” based on a logic of making and functionality that generates an aesthetic deprived of any artify. He rejoins to the Union of the Modern Artists doctrine of which he was a founder member with Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand. The brand, native of Turin as the then owner Umberto Ginestrone who hanged out with the artistic intelligentsia of his time, goes back to its origins and passion for art and design as a particularity of the maison. As the Borbonese’s history tells, today recalls the sharper aspect of its personality: a strong care for such variegated and free art that goes from futurism, as famous as the bag signed by Giacomo Balla that’s been displayed in the exhibition “Futurismi Futuristi”, going forward with the sponsorship of the most important Botero’s exhibition in Italy, to the celebration of the centenary of the maison in partnership with the Roy Lichtenstein’s Foundation and its exhibition at the Triennale in Milano. This event is the beginning of a relevant partnership toward a creative way to strengthen the synergyc motivation that, necessarily, must exists between Made in Italy excellences. In this brand, who passed through thousands of changing of a long lasting life, there is the revolutionary need to upset the present to look forward to the future, dynamically. Ufficio Stampa Borbonese Paola Tecchiati Tel. + 39 02 97379911 [email protected] BORBONESE S.p.A. Società con unico socio SEDE LEGALE: Via Nazionale, 99 40065 Pianoro Bologna Italia T +39 051770111 F +39 051775450 SHOW ROOM & PRESS OFFICE: Via Nino Bixio, 7 20129 Milano Italia T +39 0297379911 F +39 0297379801 Codice fiscale e numero di iscrizione presso il Registro delle Imprese di Bologna 80013140373 Partita Iva 01703261204 Capitale sociale Euro 12.500.000 i.v. [email protected] COMUNICATO STAMPA REALE MUTUA SPONSOR DELLA MOSTRA DEDICATA AL DESIGNER FRANCESE JEAN PROUVÉ La Compagnia assicurativa subalpina sostiene la Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli anche per questo prestigioso evento Torino, 5 aprile 2013 – “Una passione per Jean Prouvé”, la mostra di mobili e architetture che si terrà a Torino dal 6 aprile all’8 settembre 2013 alla Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli. Si tratta di una ricca collezione, appartenente ai coniugi Patrick e Laurence Seguin, costituita da oggetti, modelli, foto e disegni del grande architetto e designer francese, vissuto nel secolo scorso; in particolare, sarà esposta la “Maison Metropole”, capolavoro in alluminio di architettura nomade di 8 x 12 metri, che sarà montata per la prima volta sulla pista del Lingotto. Il sostegno di Reale Mutua a questa mostra, che racconta uno tra i tanti volti della modernità attraverso le opere di uno dei massimi esponenti del design del XX secolo, testimonia la volontà e l’impegno della Compagnia di Assicurazioni nella crescita e nella valorizzazione del capoluogo piemontese, quale polo culturale di fama non solo nazionale, ma anche internazionale. «Questa sponsorizzazione fa parte di un più ampio progetto di sensibilità e attenzione che, da sempre, Reale Mutua ha verso il proprio territorio di origine e nei confronti delle iniziative di carattere culturale», dichiara Luigi Lana, Direttore Generale della Società Reale Mutua di Assicurazioni. «Il nostro sostegno rafforza il legame con la Pinacoteca Agnelli, istituzione con la quale collaboriamo ormai da tempo e che costiuisce una delle eccellenze culturali della nostra città». Fondata a Torino nel 1828, Reale Mutua è la più importante Compagnia di assicurazioni italiana in forma di mutua. E' capofila di un Gruppo presente in Italia e in Spagna nel quale operano circa 3.000 dipendenti per tutelare più di 3 milioni e mezzo di Assicurati. La Società Reale Mutua di Assicurazioni offre una gamma molto ampia di prodotti, sia nei rami danni sia nei rami vita. I suoi Soci/Assicurati sono oltre 1.400.000 fra privati e imprese, facenti capo a circa 350 agenzie, mentre l'intero Gruppo ne conta sul territorio nazionale quasi 800. Per ulteriori informazioni e approfondimenti: Ufficio Stampa – Società Reale Mutua di Assicurazioni Elisabetta Ruà – 011 4312309 – [email protected] Giulia Altea – 011 4315911 – [email protected] [email protected]