12 reproduced typed pages, including an 8 pp. essay written by artist Len Lye while serving as a Visiting Lecturer in Art at Wagner College in New York City, and a brief foreword by Willard Baldwin. Quarto (10 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches). Original self-wrappers, stapled at upper left corner, housed in manila envelope with handwritten inscription to front. Light browning and creasing, slight handling wear, overall very good. New York: Self-published/Wagner College, May 1960. Signed by Lye to title page.

Leonard Charles Huia Lye (1901-1980) was a New Zealand artist best known for his experimental films and kinetic sculptures. "Tangible Motion Sculpture" is a theoretical treatise by Lye on his concepts of three-dimensional objects. He called them "Tangible Motion Sculptures" to distinguish them from Alexander Calder's "Mobiles", which were the best-known form of moving sculpture at the time.

A note from the President of Wagner College, Richard Heindel, on the table of contents page reads, "Because this College is deeply interested in new areas of creativity and the inter-relationships of various fields of knowledge and experience, it is a privilege to issue this document and to commend it to your attention." In his foreword, Willard Baldwin calls tangible motion "a new art form which brings together as integral components -- a. The after-image visual effect of metal and other materials set in motion at various frequencies suitable to their unique molecular structures; b. Lights produced by advanced techniques to not only illuminate but actually create new forms in conjunction with the material in motion; c. Sound synchronized to become not just an audio accompaniment to the visual statement but an integral part of the composition." Baldwin goes on to say that "Tangible motion sculpture is uniquely suited to modern architecture in its application and can be monumental in scope...A reading of the following paper, complemented by a studio demonstration offers an exciting insight in the great potential and variety of this new art form."

In the treatise that follows, Lye discusses the principles of tangible motion; the components including mechanical control, electronic control, and motion; mechanics of materials; engineering; illumination; sound; and other aspects. At the end of his essay, Lye includes an appendix with a chronology of his work and a list of other artists, dealers, and critics who have showed interest in tangible motion sculpture.

An exhibition was held at New York's Museum of Modern Art of Lye's kinetic sculptures in May 1961, and his work was favorably reviewed in publications from Time and Newsweek to Artforum and Art in America. This paticular essay went on to be published in Art Journal in 1961 (Vol. 20, Issue 4, pp. 226-227). This edition of the essay was likely to have been printed in very few copies and is quite rare. In fact, as of May 2025, OCLC does not locate a single individual holding of this work in North America. A library in Spain shows a single holding, and MOMA shows a holding for a 2-page abridged version of this essay, from 1961.

Book ID: 53468

Price: $2,250.00