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Jean Tinguely; Yves Klein
Excavatrice de l'Espace
Collaboration avec Yves Klein
1958
Material / technique: Iron, various metals, white-painted Pavatex discs, electric motor
Size: 82 x 109 x 105 cm
Inv.Number: 11111
Catalog: Bischofberger 0095
Creditline: Museum Tinguely, Basel, Donation Niki de Saint Phalle
Tinguely and Yves Klein, Yves le Monochrome, became fast friends starting in 1956. Their conversations revolved around the dematerialisation of the artwork, around the question of how art can come about and persist without material, without marble, bronze, oils, canvas or tempera on wood, and, even more radically than prescribed by the Constructivists, how it can be set apart from the object. Movement and radical monochromy were the respective responses to these questions by Tinguely and Klein, who confronted the issue of dematerialisation with jointly created works shown in the exhibition Vitesse pure et Stabilité monochrome at Galerie Iris Clert in Paris. Monochrome discs by Yves Klein are mounted on constructions by Tinguely. When these are set spinning, they create blue, red or, in the case of “Excavatrice de l'Espace“, white clouds or zones of pure colour, their materiality seemingly dissolved.
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