Blowing in the Wind

Happy birthday to George Rickey, maker of kinetic sculptures.

Although he was born in South Bend, Indiana, George Rickey's parents moved the family to Scotland when he was six years old. There Rickey attended Trinity College before matriculating at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1926. He earned a BA and MA in Modern History, but was also interested in art, and during his last years at Oxford, 1928 to 1929, he took classes at the Ruskin School of Drawing.…

It was while serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II that George Rickey made his first mobile. Back in the United States, influenced by László Moholy-Nagy and Alexander Calder, Rickey began making kinetic sculpture. His first efforts, inspired by natural forms, were made from glass and intended to hang on a wall, but Rickey quickly substituted the simple, angular forms fashioned from metal that became his signature style.

The slender, carefully balanced, pointer-like forms of these new sculptures responded to the wind and rain. In time, Rickey broadened the size of his elements, forming pieces from rectangular planes that pivoted on a conical base. His art continued to evolve, as Rickey added volumetric elements and new lightweight materials such as stainless steel to his work.

The title of this Rickey sculpture, Twenty-four Lines, indicates the number of free-floating stainless-steel lines that constitute this work. Its subtle, graceful motion is put into play by currents of air rather than a motor, thereby creating, in effect, a line drawing in space.

Source: National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM) (New York and Washington D.C.: MacMillan Digital in cooperation with the National Museum of American Art, 1996).

Pictured: George Rickey, born 1907, Twenty-four Lines, 1967–69, steel, 337 x 240 x 240 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Susan Morse Hilles and the artist.