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Jean Tinguely
Luminator
1991
Material / technique: Crane girder, gun carriage, wooden wheels, scrap iron, Swiss flag, light bulbs, electric motor
Size: c. 700 x 800 x 1700 cm
Inv.Number: 11394
Catalog: Bischofberger 1020
Creditline: Museum Tinguely, Basel, Schenkung UBS
The “Luminator” was created in 1991 as a lamp sculpture for the trade fair hall where gallerist Klaus Littmann presented his Kulturgüterwagen (Cultural Goods Train) or Kunstzug (Art Parade) at ART Basel. For the Art Parade 6 artists — Jean Tinguely, Bernhard Luginbühl, Ben Vautier, Daniel Spoerri, Eva Aeppli and Milena Palakarkina — transformed freight cars into Cultural Goods Wagons with their artworks. Jean Tinguely made the “Luminator” as a lamp to light up the dark trade fair hall. The sculpture came together quickly. With its outstretched arms, reminiscent of an insect or a beetle, its colourful wheels and its profusion of small lights (635 in all), “Luminator” marked a new beginning in Tinguely’s oeuvre. On 30 August 1991 Jean Tinguely died at the age of 66. Even before his death, the suggestion had already been made to set up the “Luminator“ at the railway station. The Swiss Bank Corporation (today UBS) purchased the piece and made it available to the station, where it was installed in the ticket hall from 1991 to 1998. Rail passengers and art fans came to appreciate the piece as an “introduction“ to the culture and museum city of Basel. The whimsical, contemplative character of the work in particular was always regarded as a welcome counterweight to the hectic pace of the train station. When work began on renovating the station in 1999, the piece had to be dismantled. After an interim engagement at the Leipzig station, where the “Luminator“ was installed until the end of 2000, it came to Museum Tinguely in 2003. In 2005 UBS donated Tinguely’s last major work to the museum.
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