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Jean Tinguely
Méta-Matic No. 6
Méta-Matic
1959
Material / technique: Iron tripod, wooden wheels, moulded sheet metal, rubber belts, metal rods, all painted black, electric motor
Size: 50 x 70 x 30 cm
Inv.Number: 11122
Catalog: Bischofberger 1106
Creditline: Museum Tinguely, Basel
The use of machines to automatically generate artworks was nothing new. But in one point, Tinguely went beyond all earlier experiments with his “Machines à dessiner“ and “Méta-Matics“: the drawings executed by his automatons were stylistically in step with their times. They imitated the works of the Tachiste painters, which were very much in vogue in those days. “These painting apparatuses take Tachisme, long since grown academic, to its logical extremes.” Artists like Mathieu or Hartung (unlike Tinguely and his friends) were not amused.
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