ART CITIES: Bassel-Merci Seppi,A wonderful gift

Josef «Seppi» Imhof was Jean Tinguely’s assistant from 1971 until the artist’s death in 1991. As Tinguely’s closest and most constant companion during those years, he collected a large number of works on paper, including drawings, prints, collages, letters, sketches and carefully executed watercolours – all of which attest to the intensity of the relationship between the artist and his assistant.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Museum Tinguely Archive

The exhibition “Merci Seppi. A wonderful gift” presents the collection of works on paper by Jean Tinguely that Seppi Imhof has kindly donated to Museum Tinguely. The over 400 objects, organised according to theme, place and project, are now the subject of a special exhibition. Viewed as a whole, they visualise the intensity with which these two men worked together and often actually lived together for twenty years. It was an almost symbiotic relationship, but one with clearly defined tasks and responsibilities. The exhibition is thus a homage to both our generous donor, Seppi Imhof, and to the friendship between Jean and Seppi that made this wonderful gift possible. Josef Imhof was born on May 23, 1943 in Berne. His childhood was spent in Solothurn. After his apprenticeship as a fitter or construction fitter he worked amongst others at the Von Roll rolling mill in Gerlafingen. In 1970 he fell upon the following advertisement in a daily newspaper: “Jean Tinguely is looking for a fitter or construction fitter (German Swiss) as of July 15, for a period of c. 6 months; multitalented and free from vertigo, driver’s license (knowledge of Jass [card game] required), f. t. construction of a monumental iron sculpture in the neighbourhood of Paris. Board and lodging provided”. The spontaneous decision to answer this ad was to firmly determine the next 20 years in the life of Josef Imhof. As a qualified fitter he became Jean Tinguely’s assistant and was expected by the artist to weld better than he himself could. After installing the exhibition “Machines de Tinguely” at the CNAC (Centre national d’art contemporain) in the spring of 1971 in Paris, Sepp Imhof’s work as Tinguely’s assistant started for real: together with Niki de Saint Phalle, Bernhard Luginbühl, their assistants and other artist friends of Tinguely the monumental sculpture “La Tête” or “Le Cyclop” initiated in 1969 started to take form over many years in Milly-la-Forêt, in the neighbourhood of Paris. Sepp Imhof was the guarantor of the material realisation of the artist’s often fantastic ideas. The sculpture measuring 22.5 m high took more than twenty years to complete and, until its official inauguration in 1994, required 300 tons of iron. Josef Imhof also participated in numerous other projects of Jean Tinguely. Seppi has collected and kept down to the smallest chit of paper recording innumerable souvenirs of his work and rich experience at the side of Jeannot and other artists. A selection of these is now exhibited in the museum. Amongst them are colorful letter-collages that Jean Tinguely sent him from all over the world: they reveal the endless creativity and fantasy of the artist who like to jot down and give shape to his ideas, thoughts and desires from his impressions and from objects of daily use or discarded items. His letters from all over the world to his assistant Imhof are particularly important documents that teach us about Tinguely’s approach to his work. Further to his activity as assistant to the artist, from 1975 on Josef Imhof also ran the Freitagsgalerie (Friday Gallery) in Solothurn with his brother Rolf, and after working as a conservator at Museum Tinguely until 2008, Seppi Imhof decided to donate his collection of Tinguely’s works on paper to that institution.

Photo: Jean Tinguely, Letter collage to Josef Imhof, Sali Sepi I Guet’s Neuis, 1975, Collage, ball pen and watercolour on paper, 21 x 29.5 cm, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Donation Josef Imhof, © 2021 ProLittens Zurich; Museum Tinguely, Basel

Info: Museum Tinguely, Paul Sacher – Anlage, Basel, Switzerland, Duration: 17/11/21-13/3/2022, Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.tinguely.ch