Best known for his inventive and often whimsical mechanical sculptures, Jean Tinguely (Swiss, 1925–1991) was a painter and sculptor who worked in both Europe and the United States.
Born in Fribourg, Switzerland between the World Wars, Tinguely grew up in Basel, where he attended the School of Arts and Crafts. In 1947, he moved to Paris and became involved with the Parisian avant-garde movement, meeting artists such as Yves Klein, Arman, and Daniel Spoerri, who called themselves the Nouveau Réalistes.
In 1960, Tinguely carried out his famous Homage to New York, in which his site-specific sculpture was intended to self-destruct in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art. Even though the sculpture did not completely destroy itself, the event drew the attention of American audiences and led to collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg on his “Experiments in Art Technology” project. Tinguely’s sculptures, sometimes called “metamechanics,” incorporated a vast array of materials, including wood, metal, fabric, gears, musical instruments, and found objects into moving or static constructions. In 1971 Tinguely married fellow artist Niki de Saint Phalle, with whom he frequently collaborated. Tinguely died in 1991 in Bern, Switzerland.