Plate from La Vittoria (Victory)
Jean Tinguely
Swiss, 1925–1991
1970–72, published 1972
An offset-lithograph plate enlivened with felt‑tip, watercolor, gouache, crayon, and pencil, in which Tinguely sketches a whimsical, diagrammatic ‘victory’ machine that reads like a comic blueprint and performance score.
A large purple, chimney‑like form and a bold red arrow leap from a field of looping wires, dotted trajectories and two colorful circular diagrams, so the page feels like a feverish technical drawing turned playful cartoon.
The sheet crystallizes Tinguely’s blend of mechanical satire and performative engineering, linking postwar kinetic sculpture, Dadaist humor, and graphic notation to rethink how machines can be imagined and experienced as art.
Medium
Offset lithograph with felt-tip pen, watercolor, gouache, colored crayon, and pencil additions from an illustrated book with eleven offset lithographs (some with rubber stamp, collage, pochoir, watercolor, gouache, crayon, felt-tip pen, ballpoint pen, and pencil additions), two lithographs, two etchings (one with aquatint), one screenprint, and fourteen offset lithograph reproductions
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 9 5/16 × 16 7/16" (23.6 × 41.7 cm); sheet: 11 7/16 × 17 1/16" (29 × 43.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
282.1974.16
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
