Jean Tinguely

Executed in 1963.

Minami Gallery, Tokyo
Collection of Kaido Hideo, Tokyo
Private Collection, Asia

Tokyo, Minami Gallery, Sounds of Sculpture, March 20 - April 6, 1963, pl. 20
Tokyo, Minami Gallery, Selection of 20th Century Art '75 Minami, 1975, unpaginated

Jean Tinguely: Catalogue raisonné, Sculptures and Reliefs, 1954 - 1968, Edition Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zürich, Switzerland, 1982, pl. 297, p. 207

This work is in very good original condition.
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Born in Switzerland Jean Tinguely lived and pursued a career in France and was identified as part of the ‘Nouveau Réalisme’, a movement championed by the critic Pierre Restany. There he worked alongside other prominent artists of the day such as Yves Klein, Nikki de Saint Phalle and Martial Raysse.

In the first half of the 1960s, his work focused mostly upon his practice on machines composed of found-objects in motion, such as Le ballet des pauvres, 1961 (The ballet of the poor, Basel, Tinguely Museum).  He ingeniously combines the legacy of Marcel Duchamp, through use of the 'ready-mades', to exude a raw and industrial aesthetic through materiality. Tinguely forces the viewer to reconsider the function of everyday objects, reflecting not only upon their daily usage but also their internal consciousness.  

In 1963, date of the present work, Tinguely started using thick black paint to hide and unify different elements within the sculpture, possibly his reaction to the direction other artistic movements were taking in both Europe and the United States at that time.  In ‘Nouveau Réalisme’ but also ‘Pop Art’ the random object triumphs in every work created as the artists demonstrate their interest for the daily life. However the use of object in art becomes therefore too common and may explain why Tinguely chooses to present his works made of assembled elements in a different way.   Proposition for K is therefore one of the last sculptures of this time to still explicitly show the various found objects it is made of.

Jean Tinguely’ work is represented in public collections at MOMA, TATE Modern, the George Pompidou Centre and the Tinguely Museum in Basel.