George Rickey
(1907–)
(–2002)
George Rickey
1907–2002
George Rickey (1907–2002) was an American painter and kinetic sculptor born in South Bend, Indiana. While his early interest was in painting, Rickey’s passion for mechanics and sculpture awoke after he was drafted into the American military in 1942, where he worked with aircraft and gunnery systems maintenance and research.
In 1913, when Rickey was only 6 years old, his family moved to Glasgow, Scotland, for his father’s work. He earned a degree in history from Balliol College, Oxford, and would often visit the Ruskin School of Drawing. After travelling Europe, Rickey attended the Paris Académie L’Hote and Académie Moderne to study art.
Rickey returned to America in 1930 and taught at a variety of schools, participated in Artists-in-Residence Programs, and maintained a New York studio until 1942, when he joined the military. It was in the Air corps where Rickey was taken with the gyroscopes on B-29 gunnery sights, and it was the gyroscopes and childhood memories which would inspire Rickey’s kinetic art. After he was discharged, Rickey attended the New York University Institute of Fine Arts and the Chicago Institute of Design. While teaching at a variety of universities, Rickey decided to move back to South Bend, Indiana, where he taught at the local university, and it was there that he became inspired by the work of David Smith.
By the late 1940s, Rickey began using more simplified geometric forms that were arranged into carefully planned patterns that dictated the speed and movement of the piece. Designed to be placed in public settings, Rickey’s works relied on the interplay and atmosphere of the surrounding environment.
While Rickey’s work is often compared to that of Alexander Calder’s mobiles, his European schooling situates him among the Constructivists, and in 1967 he published Constructivism: Origins and Evolution.
Rickey is mostly known for his metal sculptures which incorporate elements of engineering and mechanics as there are often parts that move with the air currents. His works can be found internationally in places such as the United States, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand.