Lights
The host of light fittings designed by Jean Prouvé, over more than thirty years, are a particularly interesting illustration of his creative path: among them are the early wrought iron lampstands, the built-in lighting ramps for the Sécurité Sociale building in Le Mans, the models marketed by the DIM gallery1 in the 1920s and the mass produced swing-jibs that first appeared in the 1950s. All of these models share the conjunction of technical research and utilitarian that were fulltime concerns for Jean Prouvé. With their use of welded plates, the pre-1925 lamps testify to his rapid development as a metalworker; and the sheets of light-subduing translucent glass, point ahead to the diffusers for the DIM gallery, whose combination of sheet metal and glass components provided ease of assembly, dismantling and cleaning. The small desklamp made for the Cité Universitaire in Nancy around 1933, uses a single sheet of stainless steel folded so as to concentrate the light on the work surface, while the pivoting wall lamp developed in the 1940s, allowed for the lighting of different areas as needed while freeing space at floor level.
1. The DIM gallery was a producer and marketer of furniture, fabrics and carpets. In the late 1920s it launched a range of lights commissioned from artists like Jacques Le Chevalier, Stephan, and Jean Prouvé.