Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret

Private Collection, commissioned directly from the B.C.C., circa 1947

Galerie Downtown, Paris

Private Collection, France

Galerie Downtown, Paris

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2022

Jacques Barsac, Charlotte Perriand. Un Art d’habiter, 1903-1959, Paris 2005, pp. 233, 274-75, 279, 302 (for related examples)

Jacques Barsac, Charlotte Perriand et Le Japon, Paris, 2008, p. 190 (for a related example) 

Jacques Barsac, Charlotte Perriand. Complete Works Volume 2, 1940-1955, Paris, 2015, pp. 170, 174, 201, 272, 310-11 ( (for a related example) 

Charlotte Perriand: inventing a new world, exh. cat., Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2020, p. 254 (for a related example) 

François Laffanour, Living with Charlotte Perriand, 2019, Paris, pp. 265 , 340 (present lot illustrated)

L'Aventure du B.C.C. (1939-1952), Galerie Downtown, Paris, March 10 - April 16, 2022

The present bookcase is a rare private commission executed by the B.C.C circa 1947. The B.C.C. (Bureau Central de Construction), was originally founded by Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret, Jean Prouvé and Georges Blanchon in post-war France in 1939 to aid with the development and construction of prefabricated buildings and interiors. Despite two major construction projects – prefabricated buildings for the S.C.A.L. company in Issoire in 1939/40 as well as houses in Saint-Auban in 1941/42 with furniture by Perriand - the company was relatively inactive until 1944. Perriand left France in 1940 and remained in Asia until 1946, after which she began designing furniture with Pierre Jeanneret for the B.C.C. program.  Their first edition of furniture in 1947 was called ‘Equipement de la Maison’ and included dining tables, chairs, coffee tables, storage furniture, desks and bookcases. The furniture was characterized by simple materials and functional, minimalist lines, however only a few private commissions, such as the present bookcase, were executed.

In 1949, Georges Blanchon decided to leave the Grenoble office, and in the same year the collaboration between Perriand and Jeanneret came to an end, as Jeanneret was already turning to Chandigarh to build the Indian capital of the Punjab region with Le Corbusier.

The present bookcase presents a rare opportunity to acquire a major piece from Charlotte Perriand’s work at the B.C.C., from one of the company’s rare private commission.