Frank J. Malina (1912-1981) was an American artist-engineer of Czech origin, who became one of the pioneers of
lumino-kinetic art in Paris. From 1944 to 1946 he co-founded and directed the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the first American university rocket laboratory. Then victim of the Maccarthy era witch-hunt, he took refuge in Paris in 1947. He took part in the very first UNESCO programs, and became involved in artistic research. Among his first paintings with strings, grids and moiré, one was acquired in 1954 by the Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris. He then succeeded in developing his first luminous paintings, often illustrating cosmic themes: painted Plexiglas compositions, lit by light bulbs and animated by motors. He exhibited widely during the 1950s-1970s, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherland, the Whipple Museum and the Smithsonian institution. Among the museums holding works by Malina are the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Smithsonian Institute, ZKM in Germany, and the National Gallery in Prague. In 1968, he founded the Leonardo Journal, dedicated to artists working at the intersection of
art and science.
