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.

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