Generally in good condition.
There is staining throughout the surface and very minute creases on each corner.
The verso has not been examined since the artwork is mounted on a mat.

While at art school in Basel, Switzerland, Jean Tinguely (1925 - 1991) was greatly influenced by Dadaism and moved to Paris in the 1950s. There he began creating motorized kinetic sculptures from scrap metal, and produced works such as his ‘Metamatics’ series of generative mechanical drawings created by the machines themselves.
This work was used as a preliminary sketch for ‘Pandemonium No.1’ (1984), a music machine Tinguely was commissioned to create for the Takanawa Museum of Art (later the Sezon Museum of Contemporary Art), by Moriguchi Akira, who was involved in the establishment of the institution. The period in which the work was created coincided with a turning point within Tinguely’s career, breaking away from his previously humorous style, and pursuing an inner spirituality. This is most evident in his work ‘Poja (High Altar)’ (1982 - 84), which is an homage to Grunewald’s renowned triptych, ‘Isenheim Altarpiece’ (1512 - 16).
‘Pandemonium No.1’ (1984) is a large-scale kinetic work created from junk materials such as metal, wheels and animal skulls, arranged within an 8 meter wide and 3 meter high metal framework, that produces a cacophonous sound. This preliminary sketch is a collage of paint, tape and mesh, that gives the impression of chaos and disorder, however, the paranoid temperament of the artist can also be seen in the multiple layers of various materials. For Tinguely, our materialistic society with its endless cycle of production and disposal was a ‘hell’ that he rebelled against throughout his life. Ironically, this study and the eventual work which came to exist is an altar that enshrines it.

Moriguchi Akira's Collection, Nagano