Sale: 375 / Post War / Contemporary Art, Dec. 04. 2010 in Munich Lot 161

 
George Rickey - Mäander


161
George Rickey
Mäander, 1973.
Sculpture
Estimate:
€ 8,000 / $ 8,560
Sold:
€ 23,750 / $ 25,412

(incl. surcharge)
Sculpture. Bent stainless steel. Mounted on wooden base
With name, date and number 5/25 on base. 24,1 x 31,7 x 7,6 cm (9,4 x 12,4 x 2,9 in)
Released as annual bonus of the Kestner-Gesellschaft Hanover, 1973.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Hamburg.
Private collection Southern Germany.

Inspired by the art of Alexander Clader, George Rickey made his first mobiles in 1945. The artistic occupation with the ‘Abstrakta‘ movement, time and space becam most decisive for his further plastic works. Rickey‘s mobiles and kinetic sculptures, which are made with scientific accuracy, use laws of nature such as wind energy and gravity. Rickey said the following about the Meander‘s sophisticated process of creation: "The Greek Meander is largely known, also the type of river named after it, and I, naive that I am, approached the problem of two straight-lined figures of bent wire that penetrate one another. This sculpture was made in an edition of 25 copies [..]. My assistant Achim Pahle and I made it entirely by hand. [..] Executing the flexures in an angle of exactly 90° at defined spots with simple pincers required great precision, we began at one side of the 1,35 m long wire and made the flexures at the appropriate spots all the way to the other end." (translation of quote after: George Rickey. Kinetische Objekte. Material und Technik, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 11 April - 16 May 1976, p. 45). Works by Rickey are in possession of numerous international collections, such as the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Museum Folkwang, Essen. [JS].




161
George Rickey
Mäander, 1973.
Sculpture
Estimate:
€ 8,000 / $ 8,560
Sold:
€ 23,750 / $ 25,412

(incl. surcharge)