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René Prou Coffee and Cocktail Tables

French, 1889-1947

While Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and other Art Deco contemporaries like Pierre Chareau have been hailed as masters of 20th-century design, René Prou has undeservedly more or less fallen off the decorative-arts radar. 

Prou was born in Nantes on July 14, 1887, and later trained at an industrial-design school, the École Bernard-Palissy in Paris, between 1902 and 1908. He started his career working for the interior design firms Gouffé and Schmit & Cie. At the latter, he was responsible for the decoration of the Paris residence of the ambassador of Paraguay. Prou began designing under his own name after World War I and never stopped. 

Among other projects, Prou imagined a women’s boudoir and a girl’s bedroom for the prestigious French Embassy pavilion at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris — widely considered the start of the Art Deco period. Prou created vases for the Manufacture de Sèvres, a fireplace for the living room of the Villa Noailles and a tearoom at the Lido cabaret on the Champs-Elysées. 

The designer was prolific. A promotional brochure for Prou’s eponymous design firm stated that he had designed 60 private residences and 30 banks between 1918 and 1930, and his career continued another 17 years after that. 

Prou decorated some 500 train compartments — the most prestigious of which were for the Orient Express — and participated in the interior design of nine luxury ocean liners, including the Paris, the Île-de-France and the legendary Normandie. He was also extremely well connected. His friends included the Catalan painter Josep Maria Sert and fellow designer Louis Sognot; he collaborated on projects with Raymond Subes and Ivan da Silva Bruhns; and he went trout fishing in Normandy with Ruhlmann. 

Prou was a devoted pedagogue, too, teaching more than 3,000 pupils at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs over two decades, among them Charlotte Perriand and the postwar modernist designers Pierre Guariche and Alain Richard.

Prou’s output included sparks of innovation. He covered the floors of ocean liners with patchwork carpets made of linoleum, for example, and produced some strikingly modern-looking metal chairs. Yet much of his work was more traditional, regularly incorporating typical Art Deco geometric motifs and luxurious wood paneling. A book published in 2018 on Prou’s life and career has given new, and well-deserved, prominence to the influential designer.

Find vintage René Prou furniture on 1stDibs.

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Creator: René Prou
Rene Prou Gilt Iron Coffee Table
Rene Prou Gilt Iron Coffee Table

Rene Prou Gilt Iron Coffee Table

$18,500

Rene Prou Gilt Iron Coffee Table

By René Prou

Located in Philadelphia, PA

French Art Deco coffee table in gilt hand forged iron, by Rene Prou, circa 1930. 44” long x 26” wide x 23” high with glass. Frame: 41.5” long x 21” wide. Rene Prou (1889-1948) A decorator as well as furniture designer, Rene Prou was born in Nantes and educated in Paris. He studied at the Ecole Bernard-Palissy in Paris and shortly thereafter joined the design house, Gouffé. By 1912 he had become their chief designer and was being called the first decorator of the modern taste (gout moderne). Prou’s varied design career included: 1922 oceanliner Paris 1922 – Paris to Deauville train (aka Train Bleu) 1923 – showed at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs 1924 oceanliner de Grasse 1925 – with Eric Bagge...

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1930s French Art Deco Vintage René Prou Coffee and Cocktail Tables

Materials

Iron

Rene Prou Low Bronze Table
Rene Prou Low Bronze Table

Rene Prou Low Bronze Table

$7,250

Rene Prou Low Bronze Table

By René Prou

Located in Philadelphia, PA

French Forties Art Deco low table by Rene Prou in bronze with original white glass top. Measures: 32” wide x 18” deep x 18” high. René Prou (1889-1948) A decorator as well as furniture designer, Rene Prou was born in Nantes and educated in Paris. He studied at the Ecole Bernard-Palissy in Paris and shortly thereafter joined the design house, Gouffé. By 1912 he had become their chief designer and was being called the first decorator of the modern taste (gout moderne). His varied design career included: 1922 oceanliner Paris 1922 – Paris to Deauville train (aka Train Bleu) 1923 – showed at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs 1924 oceanliner de Grasse 1925 – with Eric Bagge...

Category

1940s French Art Deco Vintage René Prou Coffee and Cocktail Tables

Materials

Bronze

French Mid-Century Modern Round Gilt Iron Coffee Table by Rene Prou, 1940
French Mid-Century Modern Round Gilt Iron Coffee Table by Rene Prou, 1940

French Mid-Century Modern Round Gilt Iron Coffee Table by Rene Prou, 1940

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French Mid-Century Modern Round Gilt Iron Coffee Table by Rene Prou, 1940

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An elegant and timeless round French Mid-Century Modern Neoclassical cocktail table by Rene Prou with stunning, delicately hand-hammered tapering legs. The legs and frame are delicat...

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1940s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage René Prou Coffee and Cocktail Tables

Rene Prou Table in Rosewood
Rene Prou Table in Rosewood

Rene Prou Table in Rosewood

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Rene Prou Table in Rosewood

By René Prou

Located in Philadelphia, PA

French Art Deco low side/coffee table, circa 1935 by Rene Prou, in rosewood. Measures: 32" diameter x 21" high. RENE PROU (1889-1948) A decorator as well as furniture designer, Rene Prou was born in Nantes and educated in Paris. He studied at the Ecole Bernard-Palissy in Paris and shortly thereafter joined the design house, Gouffé. By 1912 he had become their chief designer and was being called the first decorator of the modern taste (gout moderne). Prou's varied career included: 1922 oceanliner Paris 1922 – Paris to Deauville train (aka Train Bleu) 1923 – showed at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs 1924 oceanliner de Grasse 1925 – with Eric Bagge...

Category

1930s French Art Deco Vintage René Prou Coffee and Cocktail Tables

Materials

Rosewood

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René Prou coffee and cocktail tables for sale on 1stDibs.

René Prou coffee and cocktail tables are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of René Prou coffee and cocktail tables, although gray editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original coffee and cocktail tables by René Prou were created in the Art Deco style in france during the mid-20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider coffee and cocktail tables by André Arbus, Gilbert Poillerat, and Charles Dudouyt. Prices for René Prou coffee and cocktail tables can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $6,800 and can go as high as $18,500, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $7,800.

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