Artist of the day: Jean Tinguely

Showing posts with label Jean Tinguely. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Artist of the Day, September 16, 2026 : Jean Tinguely, a Swiss sculptor, kinetic artist (#2633)

Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) was a Swiss sculptor renowned for his kinetic art machines, known as Métamatics, which extended the Dada tradition into the late 20th century. His playful, motorized sculptures served as a satire of modern automation and the technological overproduction of material goods.

Raised in Basel, Tinguely studied at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule under Julia Ris, where he discovered the work of Kurt Schwitters and other prominent Dadaists. In 1952, he moved to France to advance his artistic career, quickly integrating into the Parisian avant-garde. By 1960, he became an official signatory of the New Realist (Nouveau réalisme) manifesto.

Tinguely achieved global recognition for his performance-based, self-destroying art. His famous 1960 installation, Homage to New York, partially self-destructed at the Museum of Modern Art, while his 1962 follow-up, Study for an End of the World No. 2, successfully detonated in the Nevada desert. His pioneering work fusing kinetic art with assemblage was featured in MoMA’s landmark 1961 "Art of Assemblage" exhibition.

For over three decades, Tinguely collaborated with his second wife, artist Niki de Saint Phalle, on major public installations including Hon – en katedral and Le Cyclop. His significant impact on contemporary art remains highly celebrated. His legacy has been honored through major global retrospectives, including recent exhibitions at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, Milan’s Hangar PirelliBicocca, Paris’s Grand Palais, and Geneva’s Musée Rath to mark the centenary of his birth.

© 2026. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Jean Tinguely or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Jean Tinguely

My Milling Machine, 1963

Swiss made, 1955

Gismo, 1960

La Bascule (Bascule Nº. 1), 1960

Orange press "a+b", 1960

Scooter, 1960

Précision, 1962

Fontaine VI, 1963

Honda Nº.1, 1963

Rocker III, 1963

Untitled, 1963

Scorpion, 1963-69

Eureka, 1964

Eureka (Detail view) 1964

Motor-Cocktail with Wheel, 1966

Chariot MK, 1966-67

EOS XII, 1967

Matrac (Bascule), 1967

Santana 6/IV, Bascule, 1967

Large Spiral, 1971-73

Untitled, 1973

Chaos I, 1974

Untitled, 1980-81

Fontana di Trevi, 1981

Untitled, 1982

Fontaine de Jo Siffert (Jo Siffert Fountain) 1984

Kyoto X, 1987

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Artist of the day, September 25: Jean Tinguely, a Swiss sculptor (#795)

Jean Tinguely (1925 – 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as metamechanics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century. Tinguely's art satirized automation and the technological overproduction of material goods.

Tinguely grew up in Basel, but moved to France in 1952 with his first wife, Swiss artist Eva Aeppli, to pursue a career in art. He belonged to the Parisian avantgarde in the mid-twentieth century and was one of the artists who signed the New Realist's manifesto (Nouveau réalisme) in 1960.

His best-known work, a self-destroying sculpture titled Homage to New York (1960), only partially self-destructed at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, although his later work, Study for an End of the World No. 2, detonated successfully in front of an audience gathered in the desert outside Las Vegas.

Tinguely’s art implicitly held a wealth of ironic social commentary. His whimsical machines deftly satirized the mindless overproduction of material goods typical of advanced industrial society. They expressed his conviction that the essence of both life and art consists of continuous change, movement, and instability, and they also served to refute the static art of the past. Tinguely was an innovator in his appreciation of the beauty inherent in machines and junk and in his use of spectator participation; in many of the events he engineered, spectators were able to partially control or determine the movements of his machines.

In 1971, Tinguely married his second wife, Niki de Saint Phalle with whom he collaborated on several artistic projects. Tinguely died in 1991 of heart failure.

© 2019. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Jean Tinguely or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only