Jean Tinguely: La Vittoria

– Editors

In 1970 Pierre Restany and Guido Le Noci, director of the Apollinaire gallery, decided to celebrate, with the help of the municipality of Milan, the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the Nouveaux Réalistes group. On 27 November, ten years after Yves Klein published his single-issue newspaper Le Dimanche 27 Novembre 1960, Arman, César, Christo, Gérard Deschamps, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse, Mimmo Rotella, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely and Jacques Villeglé met in Milan for the inauguration of a major retrospective exhibition at the Rotonda della Besana. 

Between 27 and 29 November, the artists staged public exhibitions and performances in the centre of the city, attracting the attention of the entire citizenry and triggering protests, scandals and boycotts. Christo planned to wrap the statue of Vittorio Emanuele II in Piazza Duomo but was hindered by a group of former soldiers; he retreated to the statue of Leonardo da Vinci in Piazza della Scala, but his packaging material was burned by a neo-fascist group. Arman distributed mini accumulations of waste in plastic bags; César made one of his expansions; Niki de Saint Phalle performed one of her rifle shooting sessions; and Rotella had to fight with numerous protesters to glue his torn posters in Via Formentini. 

The climax was on the evening of the 29th, the last day of the exhibition and the date set to unravel a mystery. On the 27th, a huge structure covered with a purple tarpaulin on which the letters ‘NR’ were printed in gold letters had appeared in Piazza del Duomo, to the amazement of the citizens. On the evening of the 29th, Jean Tinguely removed the purple cloth that hid his work ‘La Vittoria’ from the public: a gigantic golden phallus that exploded in the night sky of Milan, amidst fireworks, smoke and sparks, self-destructing in less than three quarters of an hour—the ‘Victoire du Nouveau Réalisme’. The anniversary of the movement was in fact also its official funeral: for the first time in history an artistic movement had decided the date of its extinction, complete with the Last Supper or Funeral Banquet at the Biffi restaurant.

Excerpted, translated, and lightly edited, by the DM editors from the catalogue of L’ARENGARIO Studio Bibliografico. Search ‘Tinguely’ on Drawing Matter Collections for more drawings of the project.