Art Machine by Jean Tinguely
Photographer: Loomis Dean, 1959 / Paris, France
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A humorous spoof on Modern art, the “Art Machine” by Swiss born artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) shown on exhibit in Paris in a 1959 feature by LIFE magazine, shot by Loomis Dean (1917–2005). Don’t miss the zany 1960 newsreel featuring more of Mr. Tinguely’s equally zany contraptions near the end of this post. Plus I have also included contemporary footage of Tinguely’s drawing machine in action plus other artists’ renditions on exhibit at the Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland.
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics. Tinguely’s art satirized the mindless overproduction of material goods in advanced industrial society.
Tinguely grew up in Basel, but moved to France as a young adult 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 (1962), detonated successfully in front of an audience gathered in the desert outside Las Vegas.
[ All images via LIFE photo archives / ©LIFE ]
Artist Jean Tinguely’s Art Machine.
Art Gallery Owner Iris Clert, in her gallery, with artist Marcel Dunchamp.
Paintings done by Jean Tingueley’s “art machine” as a spoof on modern art.
Paintings made by Jean Tinguely’s “art machine” at Iris Clert Gallery.
American girls looking at Jean Tinguely’s “art machine” at Iris Clert Gallery.
Crowd of viewers looking at art work done by Jean Tinguely at Iris Clert Gallery.
Universal Newsreels: Jean Tinguely (1960)
Meet Jean Tinguely , who may be an artist or an inventor or a philosopher, depending on how you look at his masterpieces. They are sort of abstract industrialism. Weird and wonderful machines that work superbly but serve absolutely no useful purpose. Their only function is to have no function.
Art Machines Machine Art at Museum Tinguely Part 1
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