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Jean Tinguely
Schreckenskarrette - Viva Ferrari
1985
Material / technique: Iron car, scrap iron, rubber wheels, wooden wheel, truck tyre, toy car, electric motor
Size: 200 x 140 x 80 cm
Inv.Number: 11276
Catalog: Bischofberger 0670
Creditline: Museum Tinguely, Basel, Donation Niki de Saint Phalle
With the “Schreckenskarette”, which is bound to remind the viewer of the chariot in Ben Hur, Tinguely created a memorial to speed and mobility, but also to the transience of automotive transportation. The up and down of the tattered truck tyre is accompanied acoustically by the rhythmic clack-clack of the wheel and the rattling of the chain. The fascination with the automobile that shaped Tinguely’s work his entire life becomes in this sculpture a reminder of the ephemerality of an owner’s pride in his vehicle. Jean Tinguely was intimately familiar with the world of the automobile, above all the fast, sporty, Ferrari-red variety. In his early days in Paris he built a sports car with Paolo Vallorz, in the 1960s he purchased his first Ferrari, a 250GTL Lusso, and later he owned several additional Ferraris. In his reflections on the speed of (automotive) movement, the idea of death is always somewhere in the background. Friends such as Jo Siffert and Joakim Bonnier lost their lives on the racetrack, and Tinguely himself survived several accidents. The “Schreckenskarette“ alludes to this aspect of automotive fascination as well.
Pictures in our Collection
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Museum Tinguely does not own any copyright in works by Jean Tinguely or other artists in the collection. The clarification of these rights and payment in respect of them is a matter for the applicant. In Switzerland, the collecting society responsible for this is ProLitteris, Zurich (link website: www.prolitteris.ch). Museum Tinguely undertakes no liability for third party claims arising from infringement of copyright and personality rights.
Collection of Museum Tinguely
Works and work groups belonging to all phases of Jean Tinguely’s career are to be found in the museum's collection. Along with selected temporary loans, they afford the visitor an extensive view of the artist’s career. Apart from sculptures, the collection furthermore comprises a large number of drawings and letter-drawings, documents, exhibition posters, catalogues and documentation such as photographs. In the measure of the possible all the exhibits are accessible to the public and regularly shown, be it in the permanent collection or as loans to exhibitions worldwide.
The museum’s collections are the result of a generous donation by the artist’s widow, Niki de Saint Phalle, made on the occasion of its foundation, a donation of works from the Roche collection, as well as several other gifts and acquisitions.
>> Biography of Jean Tinguely
>> History of the collection