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Jean Tinguely
Fontaine Stravinsky «Fontaine» pour Igor - Paris & Pierre par N.d.St.P. & T.
1981
Material / technique: Etching
Size: 19 x 56 cm
Inv.Number: 5524
Creditline: Museum Tinguely, Basel
Pontus Hulten wrote in 1983: “The fountain on Place Stravinsky displays a vast rectangular black surface of water, spreading out beneath flying white and silver streams of water. It effortlessly tempers the contrasts between the different architectural styles of the buildings that surround it – the Centre Pompidou, the church and the boring rows of houses on the other side of the approximately rectangular square. The arcs of water shooting up surprisingly echo the arches of the church windows. The basic motif of the sculpture group is whimsical and light-hearted: Niki’s bright colours glow and shimmer; everything is cheerful, exuberantly festive. It is only after some time that one discovers the white skull and the allusions to atomic technology surrounding it in stainless steel, as well as the melancholy of the individual movements, almost resonating with the hopelessness of Sisyphus. The interplay between Jean Tinguely’s mostly black machines and Niki de Saint Phalle’s multicoloured rounded plastic shapes led here to an exhilarating, relaxed operatic performance.
Pictures in our Collection
The following applies for uses of pictures in relation to our collection:
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