Books published by Galerie Patrick Seguin

Twenty artists create works in conversation with furniturePièces-Meublés is the title of a two-part exhibition, held in 1995 and 2016, curated by New York art critic Bob Nickas at the invitation of Galerie Patrick Seguin. The 1995 exhibition compared contemporary art with 20th-century design, inviting around 20 artists to choose a piece of furniture to interact with their work or to integrate it by creating a new work. The 2016 exhibition was centered around Jean Prouvé, whose 6x6 dismountable house, the Maison des Sinistrés de Lorraine, had been installed at Galerie Patrick Seguin. Among the invited artists, some of whom participated in both exhibitions, were John Armleder, Richard Artschwager, Bertrand Lavier, Louise Lawler, Adam McEwen, Albert Oehlen, Haim Steinbach, Rudolf Stingel and Franz West. This book illustrates these two innovative exhibitions. Introduced with a substantial preface by Nickas, Pièces-Meublés is abundantly illustrated with in-situ photographs, as well as archival images for the furniture and architectural components of the shows.

Jean Prouvé began to design portable and demountable barracks for the French army during the Second World War. After the war, the French government commissioned Prouvé to design inexpensive, effective housing for the newly homeless, prompting him to perfect his patented axial portal frame to build easily constructed demountable houses. Few of these groundbreaking structures were built, making them exceedingly rare today--prompting Galerie Patrick Seguin's tireless efforts over the past 27 years to preserve and promote these important designs. The gallery owns the largest collection of Prouvé's demountables, 22 in total. This volume focuses on the Villejuif Temporary School designed in 1957. It is luxuriously illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs. Though lacking any formal education in architecture, Jean Prouvé (1901-84) became one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, boldly experimenting with new building designs, materials and methods. "His postwar work has left its mark everywhere," wrote Le Courbusier, "decisively."

In 1969, the French oil company Total began implementing a mass-production model for its gas stations--large ones for France's freeways, and the smaller roadside units. The company called in Jean Prouvé, who had already amply demonstrated his skills in the field of prefabrication. This volume documents this dimension of Prouvé's "demontable" architecture.

This revised edition of Patrick Seguin's 2013 volume on Jean Prouvé's Maison Démontable 8x8 Demountable House includes new images and layout. In 1938, continuing his research into demountable houses, Prouvé came up with the structural principle of the axial portal frame, which he patented the following year. He applied it to his government-commissioned eight-meter modules, documented here.

The Ateliers Jean Prouvé built the structure housing the Ferembal offices in Nancy in 1948. At the request of the Galerie Patrick Seguin, in 2010, architect Jean Nouvel undertook a thoroughgoing "adaptation" of the Prouvé building, demonstrating the enduring relevance of the method. This volume documents both projects.

This is the revised edition of Patrick Seguin's 2013 volume on Jean Prouvé's Maison Démontable 6x6 Demountable House. It includes new images and layout. At the end of the Second World War, Prouvé began designing temporary houses for the homeless in Lorraine and Franche-Comté in eastern France, using his patented axial frame as the basis for modules of various sizes.

"Shows how far ahead of his time Prouvé really was--as early as the 1930s he was designing temporary and modular housing that could be flat-packed, shipped, bolted together on site and inhabited within a matter of hours." -Jack Self, The Architectural ReviewThough lacking any formal education in architecture, Jean Prouvé (1901-1984) became one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, boldly experimenting with new building designs, materials and methods. Prouvé was raised in an environment of artistic, socially motivated innovation: his father belonged to "l'École de Nancy," a collective that sought to unite art, industry and social awareness. He continued this practice throughout his adulthood, opening the Ateliers Jean Prouvé to manufacture standardized, economical goods on a mass scale--which, during World War II, included creating portable and demountable barracks. After the war, the French government commissioned Prouvé to design inexpensive, effective housing for the newly homeless, prompting him to perfect his patented axial portal frame to build easily constructed demountable houses. Despite their advantages, though, few of these architectural triumphs were built, and even fewer survive. In order to preserve Prouvé's architectural and engineering legacy, the Galerie Patrick Seguin has worked tirelessly to promote Prouvé's "constructional philosophy," exhibiting his designs and showcasing his ecologically responsible methodologies. Jean Prouvé Maison Démontable 8x8 Demountable House, the second of nine monographs published by the Galerie Patrick Seguin on Prouvé's housing modules, highlights the second of these modules. Introduced by Catherine Coley, renowned art and architectural historian, it contains Prouvé's sketches, black-and-white photographs of the designer at work and detailed examples of the building process.