Details
JEAN TINGUELY (1925-1991)
Bandini
metal scrap, wheels, electric motor 110 V, entirely painted black
157 x 55 x 78 cm.
Executed in 1963
Provenance
Sammlung Mönter
Achenbach Kunsthandel, Düsseldorf (1995)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1995


Literature
Pontus Hultén, Jean Tinguely - Méta, Berlin/London/Paris, 1972, p. 252
Edition Galerie Bruno Bischofberger (ed.), Jean Tinguely, catalogue raisonné, sculptures and reliefs 1954-1968, volume 1, Zurich, 1982, no. 333 (illustrated)

Exhibited
Los Angeles, Dwan Gallery, Jean Tinguely, May - June 1963
New York, Alexandre Iolas Gallery, Meta II, March 1965, no. 14
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jean Tinguely, March - April 1968, no. 24
Düsseldorf, Galerie Schmela, Jean Tinguely, 1976
Duisburg, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Meta-Maschinen, December 1978 - February 1979, no. 25
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Brillantfeuerwerk, September 2008 - November 2009
Herford, Museum MARta,Things are queer, Highlights der Sammlung UniCredit, February - June 2011
Bologna, MAMbo, La Grande Magia - Selected Works from the UniCredit Art Collection, October 2013 - February 2014 (illustrated, p. 67)

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Lot Essay


Executed in 1963, Bandini is an early example of Jean Tinguely’s celebrated machine sculptures. Also known as ‘metamechanics’, these works defined his output, addressing the relationship between technology and aesthetics during a time of rapid global change. Tinguely was part of the ‘Nouveau Réaliste’ (‘New Realist’) movement founded by Yves Klein and Pierre Restany in 1960. Contemporaneous with the evolution of Pop Art, it sought ‘new ways of perceiving the real’, building on the legacy of Marcel Duchamp by integrating art with objects from everyday life. Conceived at the height of the machine age, Tinguely’s kinetic sculptures were deliberately divorced from functionality; made from scrap materials, their playful movements called into question the nature and purpose of technological progress. The present work coincides with Tinguely’s decision to cover his sculptures in matt black paint, transforming them from raw, industrial apparitions to sleek, otherworldly beings, riddled with curious anthropomorphic charge.


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