In 1951, it took only two weeks to Jean Prouvé and his brother, architect Henri Prouvé, to build a school in Vantoux, eastern France, winning a competition launched by the Ministry of Education in 1949. In May 2024, the Nathan Chiche gallery, which aspires to combine architectural heritage and contemporary creation, set up between these demountable walls, which have never gone out of fashion and were listed as a Historic Monument in 2001.

Rachel Sablé

In May 1950, together with his brother Henri Prouvé, an architect, Jean Prouvé was commissioned to design two prototypes of a demountable school, which were later installed, one in Bouqueval (Val-d’Oise) and the other in Vantoux (Moselle). The first was adapted by Ateliers Jean Nouvel in 2016, for a showcase of Prouvé’s system at an exhibition in the Tuileries Gardens.

In Vantoux, as in Bouqueval, the school combines the work of architect Henri Prouvé with that of his engineer brother, who designed a system that had already proved its worth: a metal frame with axial porticos supporting aluminium façade panels. ‘The focus [of the competition programme] was on the need to produce units that could be mass-produced, easy to assemble and adaptable to any site’, wrote the architect in the pages of L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, in a special feature on ‘School buildings’ in February-March 1951 (issue 34).

His description also emphasises: ‘The excellent site of Vantoux, with its steep slope, good orientation and numerous trees, was also well suited to highlighting the elegance and purity of the buildings.’ It is undoubtedly this same elegance that led Nathan Chicheportiche to install his contemporary art gallery project inside this building, which was renovated in 2018.

La galerie devrait, selon le souhait de Nathan Chicheportiche, organiser quatre expositions par an, mettant à l’honneur des duos d’artistes. Loin de lui l’idée de faire l’impasse sur la fonction initiale de l’édifice : le galeriste envisage également de mettre en place des programmes éducatifs avec les écoles avoisinantes, permettant aux élèves de visiter les expositions et de participer à des ateliers. Plus généralement, il s’agit de rendre le lieu vivant et dynamique, notamment en accueillant des conférences, des performances, des lectures, que complètera l’installation prochaine d’une librairie.

Pour la première exposition de la galerie, qui s’est tenue à l’été 2024, le choix s’est porté sur Jean Pierre Reynaud, dont Les Vanités viennent dialoguer avec les structures modulaires de Prouvé. Avec Alphabet pour adultes, Jean Pierre Reynaud questionnait l’histoire collective et personnelle de l’humain, sa quête de sens, mais aussi le lien entre éducation et expression artistique, en installant des œuvres directement sur les pupitres d’origine.

Galerie Nathan Chiche
90 rue Jean Julien Barbe
57070 Vantoux

For more information www.nathanchiche.com