[3] As a craftsman in wrought iron, he was commissioned between 1923 and 1939 by local architects as Jean Bourgon, Pierre Le Bourgeois, Raphaël Oudeville or Alfred Thomas to contribute to their Art deco projects.

[4] Jean Prouvé was also involved in the activity of the Comité Nancy-Paris between 1923 and 1927 with the architect Jacques André or the painter Etienne Cournault.

[6] In 1930 Prouvé helped establish the Union of Modern Artists whose manifesto read, "We like logic, balance and purity," although he shaped his public image around the idea that he was not married to a specific aesthetic.

He opened the successful "Ateliers Jean Prouvé" in 1931 and began collaborating with French architects Eugène Beaudoin and Marcel Lods on projects such as the Maison du Peuple in Clichy, an aviation club and an army camp.

He favored the public sector in the growing areas of health, education and administration, which reflected a social ideal but also offered the economies of scale.

At a time when cheap, speedily built housing was needed all over the world, Prouvé was recognized as a leader in the field, alongside the North American designer R. Buckminster Fuller.

Designers who exhibited their experimental work at the salons in this period included Prouvé, Pierre Guariche, René-Jean Caillette, Joseph-André Motte, Charlotte Perriand, Antoine Philippon and Jacqueline Lecoq.

In the Ferembal Demountable House (1948), designed as the offices of the eponymous tin goods manufacturer, steel portal frames form a structural core.

[17] Prouvé's response to a 1956 commission for a schoolhouse that could be easily dismantled and relocated, the asymmetrical Villejuif Demountable House (1956) is a lightweight project whose sheet-steel props support a cantilevered wooden roof.

His designs speak of a work philosophy that includes knowledge of the materials at hand, a commitment to collaboration between artists and craftsmen, an attention to evolving technical developments, and "the principle of never postponing decisions so as neither to lose the impetus nor indulge in unrealistic forecasts".

In 1957 Prouvé started the Industrial Transport Equipment Company and built the Rotterdam Medical School, the Exhibition Center in Grenoble and the Orly Airways Terminal façade.

[citation needed] In 1958 he collaborated on the design of La maison du Sahara, a modern prototype of a house built for extreme climate conditions.

Between 1952 and 1962 he collaborated with Jean Dimitrijevic on the Musée des Beaux Arts du Havre, a glass, steel and aluminum structure that received the prix Reynolds in 1962.

[16] In 1958, Prouvé collaborated with sculptor Alexander Calder to construct the steel base of La Spirale, a monumental mobile for the UNESCO site in Paris.

The most ambitious project he worked on during the last years of his life was the building for the Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale (1970), a metal skyscraper designed around a vast internal patio, which was to be built at La Défense.

Along with fellow jury member Philip Johnson, he played a very important role for the choice of the winning project by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano.

Today, the Maison Jean Prouvé belongs to the City of Nancy, which rents it to an architect and their family on condition that the public can visit at certain times.

[21] Other notable private collectors include actor Brad Pitt, the gallery owner Larry Gagosian, and the fashion designer Marc Jacobs.