Tate Modern: Exhibition
5 February – 13 April 2008
PROUVÉ’S LA MAISON TROPICALE UNVEILED AT TATE MODERN
Jean Prouvé’s La Maison Tropicale is being presented to the public for the first time in the UK by André Balazs, who in collaboration with the Design Museum and Tate Modern, has loaned the house as a celebration of the first major exhibition of the work of Jean Prouvé at the Design Museum.
La Maison Tropicale, a masterpiece of modernist architecture, has been rebuilt on the south bank of the River Thames in London outside the Tate Modern, for display from February 5th 2008. Visitors will be able to walk around the ‘flat pack’ house, which was originally erected in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, in 1951, and regarded as one of Jean Prouvé’s most acclaimed prefabricated achievements.
Jean Prouvé – The Poetics of the Technical Object, is a comprehensive exploration of Prouvé’s life, work and ideas at the Design Museum until 13 April 2008. The exhibition covers his early career as a blacksmith in Nancy, France, the establishment of his own factory in the 1930s producing metal components and structures, and his later work as a consultant engineer.
The exhibition and display of Prouvé’s most acclaimed prefabricated buildings, La Maison Tropicale, demonstrates Prouvé’s love and understanding of his chosen material metal and his central role in the design and development of metal in the mass production of both furniture and buildings in the 20th century.
© C. Baraja – E. Touchaleaume. Archives Galerie 54, Paris. © E. Touchaleaume. Archives Galerie 54, Paris.