Jean Tinguely: "Meta

Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1975. Copy B184 of 250 copies; Signed print, solidly attached. Hardcover. Good ("Briefcase" is toned/soiled/scuffed/smudged/edgeworn; some cracking at the hinges of the structure; bookmark is frayed; interior is clean; binding is solid.). Specially bound in the form of an illustrated white briefcase, including lock and carrying handle; red cloth bookmark; 364 pp., bw illustrations throughout. "Tinguely is clearly a successor of the Dadaists, a believer in the anarchist principle that destruction can be creative. His works are elaborate, satisfying, photogenic, and sometimes rather awesome. The comment on modern civilization is obvious. Pontus Hulten, the former curator of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, is now Director of the Plastic Arts Department at the Musee National d'Art Moderne in Paris. He organized the historic 'Machine' exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, and has been a friend and collaborator of Tinguely's. This detailed account of the artist's career includes a number of fascinating unpublished documents, among them letters and postcards full of inexhaustible (and sometimes indecipherable) artistic and mechanical inventions." - from hardcover dust jacket.