Tinguely, Jean | Shooting paintings, 1970 — available on Composition Gallery

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Ink on paper This ink drawing documents the installation designed by Jean Tinguely for Tir (“Shooting Paintings”), performed by Niki de Saint Phalle in Milan in 1970 during the Festival of Nouveau Réalisme.

Combining technical notation and schematic clarity, Tinguely outlines the protective structure, shooting distance, and reinforced panels surrounding the target. The annotated measurements and directional arrows reveal the mechanical planning behind the action, reflecting his characteristic fusion of engineering and artistic intervention. The work captures the collaborative dynamic of the Tirs, in which rifle shots released concealed paint, transforming the surface through controlled destruction. As both preparatory plan and conceptual statement, the drawing offers a concise record of the performative infrastructure behind one of Nouveau Réalisme’s most emblematic gestures.

Jean Tinguely (Switzerland, 1925–1991) was a Swiss sculptor renowned for his kinetic art, creating mechanical sculptures that often satirized automation and the overproduction of material goods. His notable works include 'Homage to New York' (1960), a self-destructing sculpture exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Jean Tinguely

Shooting paintings, 1970

Name: Shooting paintings, 1970
SKU: 16661
Price: 4000.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

Form

Drawing / Watercolor

Drawing / WatercolorDrawing and watercolor are two traditional art techniques which stand alone as media, but are often used in conjunction with each other. Drawing can create the basic outlines for watercolor painting. Drawing over dried watercolor or using watercolor pencils are combined media techniques.

Medium

Ink

InkInk is a colored liquid or paste used for writing, drawing, painting, and printing. The term also refers to the process of applying ink to mark, cover, stain, draw, or trace over pencil lines. Ink can be applied using various tools, such as pens, brushes, and quills.

Edition

Unique work

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To me art is a form of manifest revolt, total and complete.

- Jean Tinguely

Jean Tinguely was a Swiss sculptor and painter who was most well known for his creations of kinetic art, known technically as meta-mechanics, in the grand Dada tradition. Jean Tinguely’s basic purpose for his art is to lampoon the unconscious over-creation of material items in modern industry. Jean Tinguely’s best known work was Homage to New York, which he designed to destroy itself. However, it did not completely self-destruct in its exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A later work,Study for an End of the World No. 2, was successful in its self-destruction when shown for an audience in the desert near Las Vegas. Some of his more well known public works include Chaos I, in Columbus Indiana; the Tinguely Fountain in Basel; the Jo Siffert Fountain in Fribourg, Switzerland; La Cascade, a sculpture in Charlotte, North Carolina; and a number of other metamatic generative sculptures made in the 1950s. (Artist website)

Artwork by Ellsworth Kelly

What is Hard Edge Art?

Hard Edge art is a style of abstract painting that became popular in the 1960s. It features areas of color separated by crisp, sharp edges that are painted with geometric precision. The term hard-edge painting was coined by art critic Jules Langsner to describe this approach, which contrasts with the softer, more fluid forms of other abstract styles.

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Jean Tinguely

Shooting paintings, 1970

11.5 x 16 cm

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Jean Tinguely