Frank Malina (1912-1981) - Kinetic Multiple 982 (NASA)

Frank Malina: Kinetic Multiple 982 IV (1966)

A silkscreen multiple on cardboard, 28 × 25 cm, published by Edition Panderma, Basel, in 1966. From an edition of 150; hand-signed, titled and dated. Condition: some marks to the paper and some spots to the reverse.

The sheet was issued as part of Carl Laszlo's La Lune en Rodage, the celebrated portable collection of post-war and contemporary art assembled by the Basel collector and editor. Laszlo gathered contributions from the leading artists of the period, who frequently contributed pieces marking a turning point in their work — Enrico Castellani's, for example, is his first documented graphic work, and Manzoni's Achrome multiple is the only one the artist produced. To hold a sheet from this project is to hold a page from a genuine anthology of twentieth-century art.

Frank J. Malina (1912–1981) is one of the most extraordinary figures to cross from science into art. Born in Brenham, Texas, to Czech immigrant parents, he trained at Caltech, where he became a central figure at the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (GALCIT) and a co-founder of what became NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory — work that has led him to be counted among the fathers of modern rocketry. In 1953 he set aside his scientific career to devote himself entirely to art. Drawing on the "new landscapes" opened by science and space, he became a pioneer of lumino-kinetic art, developing his patented Lumidyne and Reflectodyne systems to compose with electric light in continuous motion, and producing more than 250 works exhibited across Europe. In 1968 he founded Leonardo, the now-classic journal dedicated to the meeting of art, science and technology.

Malina's cosmic subjects — works with titles such as Orbit IV, Expanding Universe and Polaris — translate the imagination of the Space Age directly into visual form, and this multiple belongs to that body of work. His art is held today in collections including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Smithsonian Institution, the ZKM in Karlsruhe and the National Gallery in Prague.

Provenance:
Edition Panderma, Carl Laszlo, Basel
Private collection, Basel
Year: 1966 (published)
Technique: Silkscreen multiple on cardboard
Edition: From an edition of 150
Signature: Hand-signed, titled and dated
Dimensions: 28 × 25 cm
Condition: Some marks to the paper; some spots to the reverse
Provenance: Edition Panderma / Carl Laszlo, Basel — Private collection, Basel