Jean Prouvé

Air France Headquarters, Brazzaville, Congo

Galerie Jousse Seguin, Paris

Private Collection, New York 

Sotheby's New York, June 12, 2009, lot 52

Acquired from the above by the present owner 

Jean Prouvé, exh. cat., Galeries Jousse Seguin et Enrico Navarra, Paris, 1998, pp. 140-141

Peter Sulzer, Jean Prouvé: Oeuvre Complète/Complete Works, Volume 3: 1944-1954, Basel, 2005, p. 146

Catherine Dumont d'Ayot and Bruno Reichlin, eds., Jean Prouvé: The Poetics of the Technical Object, exh. cat., Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 2007, p. 312

Galerie Patrick Seguin and Sonnabend Gallery, ed., Jean Prouvé, Vol. I, Paris, 2007, pp. 444-447

Galerie Patrick Seguin and Sonnabend Gallery, ed., Jean Prouvé, Vol. II, Paris, 2007, pp. 75, 78-79, 142-143 and 166

Jean Prouvé, exh. cat., Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris, 2017, vol. 1, pp. 276-277

The “S.A.M. Table” model no. 506 is a standout example of Jean Prouvé’s ingenious design philosophy and relentless dedication to technical progress. The motif for the “S.A.M. Table” finds its roots in a dining table devised by the French architect and furniture designer in 1939, where slanted legs were positioned in the center to be less intrusive to its users. Following various modifications to the assembly components, the table was finalized in the no. 506 model, named the “S.A.M Table” and released on the domestic market; its elegant design immediately found critical acclaim, as the TS11 version with a solid wooden top and legs received the “Meubles de France” design award in 1947. 

Initially designed as a small series produced for the Air France Headquarters in Brazzaville, Congo in 1952, the present series finds an enameled steel frame with a metal traverse supporting a solid African mahogany wood top, with the legs screwed directly to the underside. Prouvé’s involvement in Africa began in the late 1940s throughout the early 1950s, revolving around the construction of several prefabricated buildings sourcing parts from his Nancy atelier. A prototype house in Niamey and two small business offices in Brazzaville preceded his largest undertaking: the “unités d’habitations” and headquarters of the Air France personnel stationed in Congo. The interior design of these buildings, comprising as many as sixty-three rooms of six different types, was overseen by Charlotte Perriand and was fully furnished by Prouvé’s works, including the model exemplified by the present lot. The “S.A.M. Table,” its unique proportions, and its elegant combination of mahogany and enameled steel find the present lot an exceptionally desirable example of Jean Prouvé’s pioneering spirit and innovative approach to standardization.