Niki de Saint Phalle

French-American, 1930 - 2002

BiographyBorn Paris, 29 Oct 1930; Died San Diego, CA, 21 May 2002.

French sculptor, writer, stage designer and film maker. She spent the first 20 years of her life in New York. A self-taught artist, on her return to Europe she began to work in a style similar to art brut. She first came to public attention through the Shots series (1960–61; see 1980 exh. cat., pp. 14–15), ironic parodies of Art informel painting, comprising plaster reliefs incorporating pockets of paint, which burst when fired at by visitors to the exhibition, thus staining the surface. Through these works Saint Phalle became associated with Nouveau réalisme. She produced reliefs and sculptures made of objets trouvés and plastic toys; these were always playful and imaginary; see Die Waldaff, 1962. Monsters and other fantastic creatures were also among her favourite themes (e.g. King Kong, 1963; Stockholm, Mod. Mus.), while other assemblages were in the form of iconoclastic altars (e.g. O.A.S. Altar, 1962; priv. col., see 1987 exh. cat., p. 67).

Saint Phalle’s next series were concerned with the representation of women (see fig.), as in the series of Brides (e.g. Bride, 1963; Paris, Pompidou). This led to the Nanas series, begun in 1964; daubed in bright colours, the larger-than-life athletic females glorified an art of play and festivity. The apotheosis was the monumental She: A Cathedral (1966; Stockholm, Mod. Mus.; destr.); constructed in collaboration with Jean Tinguely and Per Olof Ultveldt, it was a huge shell of a reclining woman, 28 m long, inside which were rooms, including a cinema and a bar. Thereafter Saint Phalle devoted herself mainly to monumental sculptures, sometimes intended more directly for children: Fantastic Paradise (1967; Montreal, Expo ’67, Fr. Pav., present whereabouts unknown; with Tinguely); The Golem (1972; Jerusalem; with Tinguely); Dragon (1973; Knokke-het-Zoute); the Stravinsky Fountain with its colourful vegetal forms (1983; Paris, Pompidou; with Tinguely). The Tarocchi Garden, begun in Tuscany in 1979, was created in the spirit of Bomarzo, also taking inspiration from the parks designed by Gaudí, to conceive a fantastic garden full of imaginary creatures and dream architecture reminiscent of Tarot cards. Saint Phalle also produced several illustrated books, designed sets for the ballet and made films, including Daddy (1973). In 1986 she published Aids, You Can’t Catch it Holding Hands (Munich), a combination of words and images.

Alfred Pacquement. "Saint Phalle, Niki de." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T075181 (accessed March 7, 2012).

Person TypeIndividual