Jean Prouvé, Rare Pair of Chaise Standard Tout Bois, France, circa 1950

Jean Prouvé, Rare Pair of Chaise Standard Tout Bois, France, circa 1950
Wood with steel fasteners.
Dimensions:
31 in. high
16 in. wide
19.5 in. deep
17.25 in. seat height
Markings:
Each chair with a number to the underside of the seat, “9” and “3,” respectively.
Rare pair of Jean Prouvé Chaise Standard Tout Bois chairs, the all-wood interpretation of his celebrated Standard chair. Developed during the wartime period when steel was difficult to obtain in France, the Tout Bois translated Prouvé’s structural approach into a predominantly wood construction.
Produced in relatively limited numbers from the mid-1940s into the 1950s, the model was manufactured for Ateliers Jean Prouvé by Vauconsant in Nancy, a firm also associated with Prouvé’s prefabricated architectural projects. The Tout Bois was conceived as a practical and economical chair and was promoted for institutional use, including schools and cafeterias, as well as for Prouvé’s postwar prefabricated housing.
These examples represent a particularly unusual variation of the model, constructed without the conspicuous exposed through-tenon joinery more commonly associated with the Chaise Standard Tout Bois. Variations are known within the relatively limited production of the chair, reflecting the experimental and evolving nature of Prouvé’s production.
The chairs were acquired at Nabécor in Nancy, an auction house that has been an important source for historic works by Jean Prouvé and his circle. According to previous history, the chairs were used in a Prouvé prefabricated house dating from the postwar period.
The Chaise Standard Tout Bois is an important expression of Prouvé’s ability to allow construction and material to determine form. While his work is closely associated with folded sheet steel, the Tout Bois demonstrates the same structural economy and engineering logic translated into wood.
Condition:
The chairs were overpainted at some point during their history and have been carefully restored, with the later paint removed to reveal the original clear-finished wood. Minor traces of the earlier painted surface have intentionally been retained. The restoration was conservatively undertaken to preserve the chairs’ original material, surface and character rather than create an over-restored appearance.
Provenance:
Prouvé prefabricated house, France, according to previous history
Nabécor, Nancy, France
Private Collection