Sale: 496 / Evening Sale, Dec. 06. 2019 in Munich Lot 180

 

180
George Rickey
Four Rectangles Broken Line, 1973.
stainless steel
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 93,750 / $ 101,250

(incl. surcharge)
Four Rectangles Broken Line. 1973.
stainless steel.
With scratchd signature, date and inscription "modified Berlin 1980" on stand . 229 x 76 cm (90.1 x 29.9 in).
Attached: Four Rectangles Broken Line, lithograph, 1973, signed, dated and numbered. On wove paper by BFK Rives (with teh watermark), 76 x 55.7 cm (30 x 22 in). From an edition of 20 Roman numbered copies. Published by Erker Presse, St. Gallen (with the blindstamp).
See more images and a video of this work on our homepage.
Weightless elegance in motion.
Fascinating interplay of stability and facileness
Early work from the work group "Rectangles"
Outdoor sculpture of impressive size
On the cover of the exhibition catalog of "George Rickey. Kinetische Skulpturen" 1977 at the Städel in Frankfurt.
.

We are grateful to the Estate George Rickey for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Galerie Buchholz, Munich.
Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia.

EXHIBITION: George Rickey, Kestner-Gesellschaft Hanover, July 13 - September 30, 1973, cat. no. 54.
Georg Rickey, Nationalgalerie Berlin, November 21, 1973 - February 4, 1974
George Rickey. Kinetische Skulpturen, May 5 - October 30, 1977, Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, cat. no. 8 (cover of ex. cat.).

On June 6, 1907 George Rickey was born into a family of technically apt men in South Bend (Indiana). His father was a draftsman, his grandfather a watchmaker. He became fascinated with art at an early point and he eventually found his way to painting through studies of history and art history, however he eventually turned to sculpting in 1949. Inspired by the work of Alexander Calder he made his first mobiles in 1945. Based on the concepts of motion and time George Rickey developed his artistic creation. Different from it was the case with the works from Jean Tinguely, Rickey’s mobiles and kinetic sculptures perform their motions without an auxiliary motor instead Rickey employs wind power and gravity for his works. In 1968 and1969 he stayed in Berlin on a scholarship from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), numerous awards and honors followed, In 1987 he became member of the Berlin Academy of Arts. This kinetic sculpture "Four Rectangles Broken Line" was also made during his time in Berlin. Four large rectangles are mounted on a thin ramified trunk. The sculpture suggests unstable balance and vexes our perception of space. Rickey realizes this illusion through weights that dislocate the center of mass to the plates’ edges and thus add stability to the sculpture. At first sight the rectangles appear heavy and massive, the more surprising it is to see how little it takes to move them in any direction. Rickey wrote about the nature of his works: "Just like the painter handles his colors and surfaces, the kinetic artist handles motions bound to a certain time span. Surprisingly, the range of possible motions is quite small. […] Also, its canon […] has to lie within the scope of human receptiveness. Swinging, circling, oscillating, vibrating parts that move through space - up and down, back and forth, to the left and to the right- and an emphasis of this motion through acceleration and deceleration– that’s about all the options there are– but that spectrum suffices to yield masterworks." (George Rickey, quote after: Wieland Schmied, George Rickey, 1973, p. 7/8). As creator of kinetic sculptures Rickey is both draftsman and an artistic libertine. Technology isn’t art, but every kind of art has its technology, which explains why his studio looks more like a workshop. Despite the technical considerations they are based on, his sculptures, which examine phenomena of actual mechanic motion, are characterized by an unmistakable agravic poetry. [SM]



180
George Rickey
Four Rectangles Broken Line, 1973.
stainless steel
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 93,750 / $ 101,250

(incl. surcharge)