George and Edith Rickey Collection of Constructivist Art

The George and Edith Rickey Collection of Constructivist Art—much like the Hans Richter Bequest of Dada Art—is one of the five primary groups of art that represented the Museum’s collection during its inaugural exhibition in 1974. 

In 1970, George Rickey said:

“These objects, mostly small enough to be easily carried home, all made within the last fifty years—and mostly within the last ten, could not have been made, or even imagined, in any epoch but our own.”

For Rickey, himself a prolific sculptor of kinetic art, the Constructivist movement was one that deserved true, and proper documentation.

In 1969 Japan, Rickey met François Baschet—an artist whose work he was rather familiar with. Speaking with Rickey during their daily temple strolls and lunch dates, Baschet explained his confusion with identifying himself as a Constructivist. Even though Baschet made the connection between the acoustical laws used in his works and the mathematical laws used by Constructivist artists, he humbly noted that the collaboration between him and his engineer brother (Bernard) was to “just make musical sculptures, using metal foils, to make us, and a part of the public, happy.” Baschet’s sentiment is one of many that further encouraged Rickey to create a unique, wide-ranging representation of artists of all disciplines that had some connection to constructivism.

At one point, the friends “traded” artworks. Rickey received from Baschet Structure Sonore (1969). Because Baschet himself had no possessions—he traveled the world with a knapsack and an address book—the work he received from Rickey was given to a secretary and translator that worked at Goto Tanko, the atelier where both artists were working at the time.

Four years later, Baschet created RICKEYPHONE (Structure Sonore)—which is currently on view in the 1974—2024 project of The Making of a Museum: 50 Years commemorative anniversary exhibition—and was included alongside the 1969 work in SOUNDINGS, a 1981 exhibition at the Museum that explored sound art.
François Baschet's RICKEYPHONE (Structure Sonore), the metallic work directly in the center of this photograph, shown in the 1974—2024 project of The Making of a Museum: 50 Years commemorative anniversary exhibition.
The care, community, research, and archive qualities that the Rickey Collection embodies is rather special and sentimental. Reflecting on the collection in its totality, Rickey notes that at the end of it all, “these works are, for me, the presence of their authors; they are friends who visit my house.” For the artist, this was not only an exercise in documentation, but also personal and organic collaboration, and the concept of constructivism itself: spatial presence, observing relationships and properties, and reacting to the modern era—all in real-time, together.

Rem Ribeiro
Curatorial Assistant
Neuberger Museum of Art