Niki de Saint Phalle

Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle;

Throughout her creative career, she collaborated with other well-known artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, composer John Cage, and architect Mario Botta, as well as dozens of lesser-known artists and craftspersons. For several decades, she worked especially closely with Swiss kinetic artist Jean Tinguely, who also became her second husband. In her later years, she suffered from multiple chronic health problems attributed to repeated exposure to airborne glass fibers and petrochemical fumes from the experimental materials she had used in her pioneering artworks, but she continued to create prolifically until the end of her life.

A critic has observed that Saint Phalle's "insistence on exuberance, emotion and sensuality, her pursuit of the figurative and her bold use of color have not endeared her to everyone in a minimalist age". She was well known in Europe,

Early life and education (1930–1948)

Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle was born on 29 October 1930, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, near Paris. Her father was Count André-Marie de Saint Phalle (1906–1967), a French banker, and her mother was an American, Jeanne Jacqueline Harper (1908–1980). Marie-Agnès was the second of five children, daughter of Count Alexandre de Saint Phalle (brother of Count André-Marie) and his wife Helene Georgia Harper (sister of Jeanne Jacqueline). Another cousin was the American-born investment banker, lawyer, and former Office of Strategic Services agent Thibaut de Saint Phalle, who served in the Carter administration as a director of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (1977-1981).

Marie-Agnès was born one year after Black Tuesday, and the French economy was also suffering in the aftermath of the infamous stock market crash that initiated the Great Depression. in the affluent Upper East Side neighborhood of New York City. Her mother was temperamental and violent, beating the younger children, and forcing them to eat even if they were not hungry. The atmosphere at home was tense; the only place where Niki felt comfortable and warm was in the kitchen, overseen by a black cook. She finally graduated from the Oldfields School in Glencoe, Maryland in 1947. and Harper's Bazaar.

"At one point, Gloria Steinem spotted Saint Phalle walking down Fifty-seventh Street, purseless and in a cowboy getup. In an interview quoted by the show’s curator, Ruba Katrib, in the catalogue, Steinem recalled thinking, 'That is the first free woman I have ever seen in real life. I want to be just like her.'"

First marriage and children (1949–1960)

thumb|upright|Niki de Saint Phalle in 1964

thumb|Parts of Le Paradis Fantastique (1967–1971), an early collaboration of Saint Phalle and [[Jean Tinguely]]

At the age of 18, Saint Phalle married Harry Mathews, whom she had first met at the age of 11 (he was 12) through her father.

Although her parents accepted the union, her husband's family objected to her Catholic background and cut them off financially, causing them to resort to occasional shoplifting. However, after marrying young and becoming a mother, she found herself living the same bourgeois lifestyle that she had attempted to escape.

In 1959, Saint Phalle first encountered multiple artworks by Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp, Daniel Spoerri, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns. Seeing these avant-garde works triggered her "first great artistic crisis". He was becoming well known for his kinetic sculptures made from cast-off mechanisms and junk. In many ways, the pair were opposites, and sometimes had violent disagreements, and frequent affairs with others. or Assemblage (Figure with Dartboard Head) (1962). She would invite viewers to throw darts at the dartboards embedded as faces in her figurative assemblages, which were influenced by the targets painted by her friend Jasper Johns. Her early art performance/events took place in the "Impasse Ronsin", a trash-strewn back alley in the Montparnasse district of Paris. This cul-de-sac was also the site of the improvised studios of Constantin Brâncuși, Jean Tinguely, Yves Klein, Max Ernst, Les Lalanne, and other experimental artists in the 1950s and 1960s.

As founder of the Nouveau réalisme ("New Realist") movement, Restany asked Saint Phalle to join this group of French artists upon seeing her performance; she would become the only female member of this group. It included Homage to Le Facteur Cheval, a shooting gallery where visitors could fire on one of her Tirs installations.

While in New York City, Saint Phalle and Tinguely stayed in the Hotel Chelsea in 1962, and again in 1964-1965.

As the series developed into larger monumental works, Saint Phalle used composite fiberglass-reinforced polyester plastic (also known as FRP or GRP) decorated with multiple bright-colored acrylic or polyester paints. She also used polyurethane foam in many of her early sculptures. These innovative materials enabled the construction of colorful, large-scale sculptures with new ease and fluidity of form. Saint Phalle unknowingly used dangerous fabrication and painting processes that released airborne glass fibers and chemicals, including styrene, epoxy, and toxic solvents. which have been compared to Miss Havisham, an ethereal character in Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations.

Over time, these figures became more joyful, whimsical, colorful, and larger in scale. Saint Phalle began to portray archetypal female figures with a more optimistic view of the position of women in society.

The newer figures took on ecstatic dance poses The term also recalls the childish French taunt nananère.

For this show, Iolas also published Saint Phalle's first artist book Written on one of Hons massive thighs was the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense ("May he be shamed who thinks badly of it"). Inside the massive sculpture were a 12-seat cinema theater, a milk bar inside a breast, a fish pond, and a brain built by Tinguely, with moving mechanical parts.

After an initial shocked silence, the installation elicited extensive public commentary in magazines and newspapers throughout the world, raising awareness of the Moderna Museet.

In August 1967, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam opened Saint Phalle's first retrospective exhibition, Les Nanas au pouvoir ("Nana Power"). For the show, Niki created her first "Nana Dream House" and "Nana Fountain", and also showed plans for her first "Nana Town". The composition was originally conceived of as an attack by Tinguely's dark mechanical constructions upon Saint Phalle's brightly colored animals and female figures, a kind of "amorous warfare".

In 1968, she first disclosed that she had developed respiratory problems from exposure to dust and fumes in making her artwork. She ignored complaints from art critics, focusing on raising money for her future monumental projects.

In November 1970, as part of an artists' reunion celebrating the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Nouveaux Réalistes, Saint Phalle shot at an altar assemblage. perhaps for tax savings, as Saint Phalle thus became a Swiss citizen. Saint Phalle personally trained daughter Marie Haligon to paint her multiple edition sculptures, following a master artist's prototype. The filming was done in a rented castle near Grasse in southeastern France in association with filmmaker Peter Whitehead. In November, the film was shown in London. The following January, she produced a new version of the film, with additional scenes in Soisy and New York, and an expanded cast. The revised version premiered at Lincoln Center for the 11th New York Film Festival in April. She was also commissioned to design the cover of the program for the festival.

In 1987, graffiti artist Keith Haring would live in Le Dragon while working on a mural commissioned by Roger Nellens at nearby Knokke Casino, and would return for at least three summers. With Saint Phalle's enthusiastic consent, he would paint a long fresco along an interior stairway wall.

In 1955, Saint Phalle had visited Antoni Gaudí's Parc Güell in Barcelona, Spain, which inspired her to use diverse materials and found objects as essential elements in her art. Another influence was the Parco dei Mostri in Bomarzo, in the Lazio region of Italy. In the late 1950s, she and Jean Tinguely had visited Le Palais Idéal built by Ferdinand Cheval (known as Le Facteur Cheval) in Hauterives, France, as well as Simon Rodia's Watts Towers in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. but eventually the figures were affectionately nicknamed "Sophie", "Charlotte", and "Caroline" in honor of three of the city's historical women.

In 1975, Saint Phalle wrote the screenplay for Un rêve plus long que la nuit ("A Dream Longer Than the Night", later also called Camélia et le Dragon), and she recruited many of her artist friends to help make it into a film, a phantasmagorical tale of dragons, monsters, and adolescence. A young girl is held captive by a dragon, manages to escape, and must explore Sept Portes du Mystère ("Seven Doors of Mystery") to find love. Saint Phalle's daughter Laura was the lead character in the film, appearing with Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, and other artist friends; Peter Whitehead composed the music. For the filming, she designed several pieces of furniture, which were later displayed on the facade of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

In 1976, she retreated to the Swiss Alps to refine her plans for the sculpture park. She continued to produce her Nanas in addition to her new style of sculpture, He would work on the project for 36 years and recruit his nephews to join in; some family members are still involved in maintaining the site. The materials used in the Tarot Garden project would include steel, iron, cement, polyester, ceramic, mosaic glass, mirrors, and polished stones (which she called "M&M's").

In 1981, Saint Phalle rented a small house near the Tarot Garden and hired young people from Garavicchio to help with the construction of the garden. Jean Tinguely led a Swiss team, comprising Seppi Imhoff and Rico Weber, and started welding the frames of the sculptures. This was one of the first of what came to be called celebrity perfumes, using fame and name recognition to sell scented products. She may have raised as much as a third of the funds she needed for the garden in this way. Later that year, Saint Phalle collaborated with Tinguely to produce the Stravinsky Fountain, a 15-piece sculptural fountain with moving elements, located in Igor Stravinsky Square next to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Because of its prominent location in Paris, it would become one of the best-known collaborations between the two artists.

From 1983 until 1988, when on site, In 2000, she would recall: "At last, my lifelong wish to live inside a sculpture was going to be granted: a space entirely made out of undulating curves ... I wanted to invent a new mother, a mother goddess, and be reborn within its form ... I would sleep in one breast. In the other, I would put my kitchen".

From 1987 to 1993, Saint Phalle spent more of her time in Paris, where she developed many of the smaller sculptures for the garden.

The Tarot Garden was under development for almost 30 years, and $5 million (roughly $11 million in 2016 dollars The Foundation of the Tarot Garden was constituted in 1997 (and would attain official juridical status in 2002), and the garden officially opened to the public on 15 May 1998. The site covers around on the southern slope of the hill of Garavicchio, in Capalbio. The tallest sculptures are about high. asthma, Despite these handicaps, she launched into exploring new venues, new technologies, and new art media.

In 1989, Ricardo Menon, Saint Phalle's former assistant, died of AIDS; She placed a second copy of the memorial sculpture in her Tarot Garden in Tuscany, where he had worked closely with her for nearly a decade. When a visitor approached, a photocell would trigger motors which caused elements of the paintings to separate. In 1999, she released Traces, an English-language autobiography, which she also illustrated. In 2006, Harry and Me: The Family Years; 1950–1960 was published (posthumously), consisting of her self-illustrated memoirs from the decade when she was married to Harry Mathews.

Saint Phalle moved from Paris to La Jolla, California in 1994 for health reasons. The President of France, François Mitterrand, opened the work to the general public in May.

In 1994, Saint Phalle worked with Peter Schamoni in making a documentary film about her life story, Niki de Saint Phalle: Wer ist das Monster – Du oder ich? ("Who is the Monster, You or I?"). In 1995, the film was awarded the Bavarian Film Award for best documentary. She dedicated the series to her great-grandchildren, who are of mixed race. The award is considered to be the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the world of art.

Posthumously, Queen Califia's Magical Circle (2000–2003), a diameter sun-drenched sculpture garden designed by Saint Phalle, was opened in Escondido, California in October 2002. It is enclosed in a undulating wall topped with large python-like snakes, and includes a maze and 10 large sculptures she designed, comprising the most extensive public collection of her work in the US.

After her foray into modeling in the 1940s and '50s, the fashion world again fixated on her appearance during the second half of the 1960s as she gained fame for her artwork, with photo spreads of her in prominent fashion magazines and designer Marc Bohan of Dior designing clothes exclusively for her. Her personal style of dress during the mid-sixties inspired designer Yves Saint Laurent to create his "le Smoking" trouser suits in 1966, versions of which he continued to produce for decades afterward.

Her enormous, curvaceous Nanas celebrated the fecund female form, featuring large breasts and buttocks, splayed limbs, joyous dance postures, and often, black skin. She was one of the earliest artistic champions of AIDS awareness, In addition to her artworks, she wrote extensively in both French and English, and granted numerous interviews; much of this material is collected in her archives.

Gallery

File:HaMifletzetGardenNov102022 01.jpg|Golem (1971), Kiryat Hayovel, Israel

File:La Grande Lune.JPG|La Grande Lune ("Great Moon", 1985/1992), MAHF Fribourg, Switzerland

File:St-Phalle Ulm-29-24.jpg|Adam and Eve (1985), Ulm, Germany

File:DuisburgInnenstadt.jpg|Lifesaver Fountain (1993), Duisburg, Germany

File:Losanna, museo olimpico, niki de saint-phalle, les footballers, 1993.JPG|Les Footballeurs ("Soccer Players", 1993), The Olympic Museum, Lausanne

File:Zürich HB Halle Ri Osten Schutzengel.jpg|L'Ange Protecteur ("Guardian Angel", 1997), Zürich Hauptbahnhof

</gallery>

Major exhibitions

1998 Niki de Saint Phalle : insider, outsider world inspired art, Mingei International Museum on The Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California
2000 La Fête. Die Schenkung Niki de Saint Phalle ("Celebration: The Donation of Niki de Saint Phalle"), Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
2002 [retrospective], Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC), Nice, France
2010-2011 New York Avenue Sculpture Project: Niki de Saint Phalle, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2014 Niki de Saint Phalle, Grand Palais, Galeries nationales, Paris, France
2016 Niki de Saint Phalle, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
2021 Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life, MoMA PS1, Queens, New York City
2021-2022 Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
2024 Niki de Saint Phalle: Rebellion and Joy, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
2025 Niki de Saint Phalle In Print, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2025-2026 Niki de Saint Phalle & Jean Tinguely – Myths & Machines, Hauser & Wirth, Somerset

Public art

thumb|Buddha (1999)

thumb|[[Nikigator (2001)]]

thumb|upright|Oiseau Amoureux (1993)

Many of Saint Phalle's sculptures are large and are exhibited in public places. The Niki Charitable Art Foundation maintains an online map and catalog of all her extant public artworks, including a pizza oven in La Jolla, California.

Le Paradis Fantastique ("The Fantastic Paradise", 1967), Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (in collaboration with Tinguely)
Golem (1971), Kiryat Hayovel, Jerusalem
Hannover Nanas (1973), along the Leibnizufer in Hanover, Germany
La Fontaine Stravinsky (Stravinsky Fountain or Fontaine des automates, 1982) near the Centre Pompidou, Paris (in collaboration with Tinguely)
Sun God (1983), a fanciful winged creature next to the Faculty Club on the campus of the University of California San Diego as a part of the Stuart Collection of public art
La Lune ("The Moon", 1987), Brea Mall in Brea, California
Fontaine de Château-Chinon (1988), at Château-Chinon, Nièvre (in collaboration with Tinguely), a commission by French President François Mitterrand
Le Grand Oiseau Amoureux ("Great Amorous Bird", 1988–1989), Mendrisio, Switzerland, depicts a Nana in a Yab-Yum embrace with a large standing bird
Grand Oiseau de Feu sur l’arche ("Great Firebird on the Arch", 1991), in front of Bechtler Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina
La Tempérance (1992) in Centre Hamilius, Luxembourg-Ville, Luxembourg (this work was in storage as the site was being demolished).
Le Monstre du Loch Ness ("Loch Ness Monster", 1992), Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain (MAMAC), Nice, France
Oiseau Amoureux Fontaine / Lebensretter-Brunnen ("Amorous Bird Fountain / Lifesaver Fountain", 1989–1993), Duisburg, Germany (in collaboration with Tinguely)
Le Cyclop (1969–1994), Milly-la-Forêt, France (in collaboration with Tinguely and 15 other artists)
Tympanum (1996) triangular mirror mosaic and mirrored pediment above the entrance to the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Scotland
L'Ange Protecteur ("Guardian Angel", 1997) in the hall of the Zürich Hauptbahnhof, the largest rail station in Switzerland
Le poète et sa muse ("Poet and His Muse", 1998), Mingei International Museum on The Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Big Ganesh (1998), San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, the Hindu elephant-god Ganesh dances with a small mouse
Miles Davis (1999), outside of Hotel Negresco in Nice, France
Ricardo Cat (1999), Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint Louis, Missouri
Noah's Ark (1994–2001), Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, 23 works in a collaborative sculpture park with architect Mario Botta
Grotto (2001–2003), Herrenhäuser Gardens in Hanover, Germany
Queen Califia's Magical Circle (2003), a sculpture garden in Kit Carson Park, Escondido, California

Bibliography (by publication date)

thumb|upright|The World

– autobiography
Applin, Jo, "Alberto Burri and Niki de Saint Phalle: Relief Sculpture and Violence in the Sixties", Source: Notes in the History of Art, Winter 2008
Catherine Francblin,
– Compendium of recurring symbols in the artist's work, and some of their possible meanings
– Catalog of the artist's first retrospective exhibition in New York City, where the artist spent much of her childhood and adolescence
– Catalog of exhibition covering the 1960s Tirs and early Nanas series of artworks

A short, annotated bibliography is available at the Niki Charitable Art Foundation website.

, an online catalogue raisonné of the artist's "Nanas" is "forthcoming".

Filmography

Daddy (1973), written and directed by Saint Phalle and Peter Lorrimer Whitehead
Un rêve plus long que la nuit / Camélia et le Dragon ("A dream longer than the night / Camelia and the Dragon", 1976), written and directed by Saint Phalle
' ("Who is the Monster, You or I?", 1995), biographical documentary (in German) by Peter Schamoni in collaboration with Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle: Introspections and Reflections (2003), posthumous documentary by André Blas
Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely: Bonnie and Clyde of the arts (2012), posthumous documentary by Louise Faure and Anne Julien

A comprehensive listing is at the Niki Charitable Art Foundation website.

Notes

References

External links

Official website of the artist's foundation, NCAF
Official website of the Tarot Garden sculpture park
Official website of Queen Califia's Magical Circle sculpture park
Official website of Le Cyclop
Stuart Collection, UCSD
Personal blog on Tarot Garden
Catalogue Raisonné research
Walkthrough video tour of the Tarot Garden, from the Grand Palais retrospective
Niki de Saint Phalle – Der Traum vom fantastischen Garten, 50-minute documentary by Fabian Hirschi (in German)
A brief video overview of Saint Phalle's art, produced by the Tate Gallery and presented by the Khan Academy
Video excerpt showing construction, operation, and later demolition of Hon – en katedral
What Is Now Known Was Once Only Imagined: An (Auto)biography of Niki de Saint Phalle by Nicole Rudick, Siglio Press, 2022