Museum Ritter Museum Ritter
Deutsche Version
Newsletter
Homage to the Square
(18.October 2009 - 11. April 2010)
François Morellet (17.05. - 27.09.2009)
MUSEUM RITTER on tour
(28. May 2009 - 25. June 2009)
Gastspiel
(26.10.08 - 26.04.09)
Alighiero Boetti
(26.10.08 - 26.04.09)
Werner Bauer
(18.05.08 - 28.09.08)
Bildertausch 3
(18.05.08 - 28.09.08)
New Friends
(28.10.07 - 20.04.08)
Geneviève Claisse
(28.10.2007 - 20.04.08)
Bildertausch 2
(06.05. - 30.09.2007)
George Pusenkoff
(06.05. - 30.09.2007)
Bewegung im Quadrat
(22.10.2006 - 15.04.2007)
Davide Boriani
Waltraut Cooper
Carlos Cruz-Diez
Gerhard von Graevenitz
Dieter Jung
Victor Vasarely
Mader|Stublic|Wiermann
Vera Molnar
Bridget Riley
Sabine Laidig
Sabine Straub
Jean Tinguely
Vadim Kosmatschof
Marcello Morandini
(21.05. - 03.10.2006)
Bildertausch 1
(21.05. - 03.10.2006)
SQUARE
(18.09.2005 - 23.04.2006)
Jean Tinguely
1925 born in Fribourg (CH)
1991 died in Berne
 
Maschinenbild Haus Lange
Relief méta-mécanique, Multiple, 1960/2004
Metal elements, wooden panel, wooden wheels, eletric motor
65 x 65 x 8 cm
(c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2006/2007
The »Maschinenbild Haus Lange« [Machine Picture Haus Lange] was made in 1960 for Jean Tinguely’s first ever solo exhibition in a museum. The basis for the work is a relief dating from 1955, which he had devised as a multiple for the Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld. Parallel to the exhibition catalogue, the visitors could purchase a construction plan and all the necessary parts, enabling them to construct the artwork themselves: »With this plan I invite you to construct this picture, or have someone do it for you, and to regard the result when done exactly as an original piece by me. Tinguely«. Even the artist’s signature was included on a label that verified the original character of the work.

This relief belongs to the group of Tinguely’s works he entitled »Meta-Malevich«, which he produced after his arrival in Paris in the mid-1950s. The prefix »Meta« describes the progressive character of the works. In this composition of five rectangular forms suspended on a surface, he draws formally on the Suprematist paintings of the Russian father of Geometrical Abstraction, while extending them through the dimension of time. Since the mechanism is located on the rear side and is
invisible to the viewer, the lively character of the work only reveals itself once the electricity has been turned on. The individual components of the picture assume constantly new positions and with that produce ever-new combinations.
 
The picture shows Tinguely’s central aims of dismantling the traditional forms of conveying art and questioning the socalled lofty status of the work by the so-called brilliant artist.
Print