Jean Tinguely
Biography
The Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely was born in Fribourg on May 22, 1925. After completing his schooling in Basel, he began an apprenticeship as a window dresser in a department store in 1940. Tinguely then studied at the Basel School of Arts and Crafts from 1941 to 1945, during which time he discovered the art of Schwitters and Klee and also became interested in the Bauhaus. In 1944, Tinguely began to explore spatial movement in his machine-like sculptures by equipping them with electric motors and thus achieving high rotational speeds. In 1951, he moved to Paris, took part in international happenings with Robert Rauschenberg and came across the loosely formed artist group "Nouveaux Réalistes", in whose exhibitions he participated from then on. Just three years later, in 1954, he had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Arnaud. Jean Tinguely's fantasy machines with programmed random elements, the so-called "Métamatics", caused a sensation. These are machines for producing drawings or self-destructing machines. The constructions, welded together from iron parts, are ironic attacks on the meaning of the technical age.
In 1959, Tinguely took part in the Paris Biennale and made contact with the ZERO group. By the mid-sixties at the latest, the artist had gained international recognition. Between 1964 and 1977, he exhibited at documenta 3, 4 and 6 in Kassel. In 1961, Tinguely married the artist Niki de Saint Phalle, with whom he worked closely. Together with her, he installed the walk-in female sculpture "Hon" at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1966. In the same year, he took part in the exhibition "The Machine" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. A year later, Tinguely was represented at the World Exhibition in Montreal. In 1968, his "Machines" were again shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in the exhibition "Dada, Surrealism and their Heritage". In the same year, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago organized the first retrospective of his works, and in 1972/73 a major touring retrospective was held at the Kunsthalle Basel. Even in his later years, Tinguely's energy remained unbroken. In 1980/81, for example, he realized the fountain "La Fontaine Stravinsky" in Paris with Niki de Saint Phalle. In the 1980s, Tinguely realized several more large-scale projects, including exhibitions, sculpture groups and fountains. His works conquered the whole world. Jean Tinguely died in Bern on August 30, 1991.
To me art is a form of manifest revolt, total and complete. It's a political attitude which doesn't need to found a political party.

Exhibitions
Museum and single exhibitions (selection)
2024
Jean Tinguely: Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy
2021
Jean Tinguely: Et tout ceci est vrai! In Tinguely’s footsteps between Paris, Amsterdam, and Basel, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
Jean Tinguely: le Définitif - c'est le Provisoire, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
2019
Jean Tinguely: Bricolages et Débri(s)collages, Vallois, Paris, France
Jean Tinguely: Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction—The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift, Group Exhibition,Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, United States
2018
Jean Tinguely: Epic Abstraction, Group Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, United States
Jean Tinguely: Salm Modern #1: Dimensions of Dialogue, Group Exhibition, National Gallery Prague - Trade Fair Palace, Prague, Czech Republic
2016
Musikmaschinen / Maschinenmusik - Museum Tinguely, Basel
Jean Tinguely - Machine Spectacle - Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Jean Tinguely - ´60s - Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris
Jean Tinguely. Super Méta Maxi - Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
2015
Jean Tinguely - Gladstone Gallery - New York, New York, NY
2014
Jean Tinguely - Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki
2012
Méta-Reliefs / Méta-Matics (1955-1961) - Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris
Jean Tinguely - Soy Jean Tinguely - Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires
Jean Tinguely - Briefe An Familie Schmela - Galerie Lena Brüning, Berlin
2011
Remembering Cascade: Tinguely’s Last Sculpture - Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte, NC
Jean Tinguely: Maschinen 1955 - 1991 - Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zürich
2010
Jean Tinguely - Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal
2009
Tinguely - Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden
2008
JEAN TINGUELY. A Retrospective - KunstHaus Wien, Wien
Jean Tinguely - Werke von 1960 bis 1974 - Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zürich
Jean Tinguely: Retrospectiva - IVAM - Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia
2007
Jean Tinguely - Alles beweegt! - Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam
Spielerische Mechanik bei Jeannot und Dadamax - Max Ernst Museum, Brühl
2006
Jean Tinguely - Totentanz - Kloster Schönthal Skulpturenpark, Langenbruck
Jean Tinguely - Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
Jean Tinguely - Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zürich
Jean Tinguely - Es bewegt sich alles, Stillstand gibt es nicht - Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
Jean Tinguely - Sculptures - JGM. Galerie, Paris
2004
Jean Tinguely - Große Spirale - Homage to NY - Neue Galerie Graz - Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz
2003
Jeannot an Franz - Briefe und Zeichnungen von Jean Tinguely an Franz Meyer - Museum Tinguely, Basel
Jean Tinguely - The Witches - Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York, NY
Jean Tinguely - Ein Zauber stärker als der Tod - Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg
Was sich bewegt hält besser - Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt
Jean Tinguely - Stillstand gibt es nicht - Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden
2002
Jean Tinguely - Stillstand gibt es nicht! - Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim
2000
L´Esprit 60 de Tinguely - Museum Tinguely, Basel
L'esprit de Tinguely - Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Jean Tinguely - Drawings, Collages, Paintings, Prints - Palais de l’Athénée, Genf
1998
Jean Tinguely - Sixties Sculptures - Faggionato Fine Arts, London
1996
Jean Tinguely - Oeuvres appartenant aux collections nationales - Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris
1991
Jean Tinguely - Nachtschattengewächse - KunstHaus Wien, Wien
1988
Jean Tinguely - Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris
1985
Jean Tinguely - Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, München
1983
Jean Tinguely - Gallery Kasahara, Osaka
1982
Jean Tinguely - Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich
1977
Sculpture by Jean Tinguely - The Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
1976
Jean Tinguely - Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf
1975
Tinguely: La Vittoria - MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1973
Jean Tinguely - Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam
1972
Jean Tinguely 1954–1972 - Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Jean Tinguely - kestnergesellschaft, Hannover
1968
Jean Tinguely - Hanover Gallery, London
Jean Tinguely - Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, IL
1967
Tinguely - Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
1964
Tinguely - Meta - Galerie Alexandre Iolas - Paris, Paris
1963
Jean Tinguely - Dwan Gallery - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
1961
Jean Tinguely : recent constructions - Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1960
Jean Tinguely - Museen Haus Lange / Haus Esters, Krefeld
1959
Jean Tinguely - Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf
Tinguely - Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf
1956
Tinguley - Peintures Cinétiques - Galerie Denise René - Rive Gauche, Paris