Vantoux — École Jean Prouvé, 1951
Galerie Nathan Chiche occupies a former school designed by Jean Prouvé, set in a meadow at Vantoux, on the edge of Metz.
The result of a competition launched by the French Ministry of Education in 1949 and inaugurated in 1951, the school was assembled entirely dry, sheet metal and components bolted and clipped together, in just two weeks. It housed a classroom, a workshop and a teacher's lodging. It has been listed as a historic monument since 2001.
Steel frame, aluminium panels, repeated portal bays: the building is itself a work, and it sets the measure for everything shown inside it. Every hang begins as a negotiation with the structural grid.
The gallery represents an international programme, painting, sculpture, ceramics, ink, in constant dialogue with modern architecture. Opened in 2024, it takes part in 1-54 London, Asia Now and Luxembourg Art Week. A second space, in Paris, receives by appointment.
The building as a point of departure.
Plans, chronology, archives and the history of the school are gathered in a dedicated dossier.
Open the dossier →