'Maison Jean Prouv?' Where Pragmatism Meets Art... Seoul Auction & Anderson's Curated Exhibition

Installation of 36㎥ Prefabricated Building by French Master Jean Prouve
Featuring Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Others

A special exhibition where you can enjoy the 'vintage furniture' of Jean Prouv?, a representative French architect and one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, along with domestic and international artworks, is being held.

Jean Prouv?, Demountable House (6x6) [Photo by Seoul Auction]

Seoul Auction, an art auction company, is hosting the special exhibition "Jean Prouv?'s House" in collaboration with furniture trading company Anderson C Design Gallery until the 17th. The exhibition is held on the 4th basement floor of Seoul Auction Gangnam Center in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and admission is free.

"Jean Prouv?'s House" is the second exhibition in the "Art & Furniture" series, themed around a space where artworks and vintage design furniture harmonize.

At the exhibition, Prouv?'s representative work, the "Demountable House," is assembled and installed at actual size, offering visitors a chance to experience his innovative design philosophy. With one wall measuring 6 meters and an area of about 33 square meters, this piece reveals the artist's worldview of interpreting architecture not as a fixed structure but as furniture that can be transformed and moved. This building was designed as a prefabricated structure to solve the housing problems of displaced people after World War II, allowing easy transportation, assembly, and disassembly, and is still highly valued today for its rarity.

A Seoul Auction official explained, "Although about 400 units were produced at the time of manufacture, only a very small number remain in complete form today, making the exhibited piece extremely rare."

Jean Prouv?, Tout Bois Chair [Photo by Seoul Auction]

The exhibition features works by contemporaneous designers such as Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, and Pierre Jeanneret alongside Jean Prouv?, showcasing their pursuit of functionalism and pure form aesthetics. Various works that capture the essence of modernist design, including Charlotte Perriand's "Nuage Bookshelf," Pierre Jeanneret's "Chandigarh Furniture," and collaborations with Le Corbusier, are exhibited to highlight the art movements of the era.

Seoul Auction has enhanced the completeness of the space by harmoniously arranging flat works by domestic and international contemporary art masters such as Kim Chang-yeol, Damien Hirst, Frank Stella, and Hernan Bas within the space embodying the world of French designers' works.

Prouv?'s architecture and furniture emphasize practicality and structural stability. His representative work, the "Standard Chair," is also a practical design considering load distribution and has become the standard for school chairs to this day. His radical artistic philosophy that "a house should be a consumer good, movable, and suitable for progressive urbanization" continues to inspire deeply with designs that combine artistic value and practicality.

Jean Prouv?, Demountable House (6x6) [Photo by Seoul Auction]

A Seoul Auction official said, "Original vintage furniture created by the master's hand possesses unique artistry and rarity, similar to artworks, and when combined, they can create great synergy," adding, "We hope art enthusiasts will appreciate the combination and harmony of various works introduced in this exhibition and gain inspiration to create spaces that reflect their own individuality."