KUNZELSAU — The Kunsthalle Würth in Schwäbisch Hall shows the wide-ranging oeuvre of the multifaceted artist Niki de Saint Phalle, undoubtedly one of the most important artists of the 20th century, in a large survey exhibition. Through her paintings, assemblages, shooting paintings (tirs), sculptures and installations, this artist created a unique cosmos which established her international reputation.
Niki de Saint Phalle, born in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1930 and died in San Diego, California, in 2002, had a defining influence on the art of her day, feminine features of which she celebrated and shaped. Like no one before her, she found a valid form for the elemental force of femininity, particularly in her Nanas.
The exhibition at the Kunsthalle Würth will provide an extensive overview of her oeuvre, from the early paintings to the late sculptures. Play With Me, the title both of the exhibition and of one of her first paintings, is also directed at the viewer. It is an appeal to the individual’s creativity, an invitation to make an attempt and participate in the artist’s unbridled joie de vivre. That joy was evident in all the phases of her creative life. Her oeuvre unites her interest in the originality of life and her own experiences. Niki de Saint Phalle cannot really be categorised, nor was she shy of contradictoriness. Whether she engrossed herself in sources like the tarot or Indian culture, or drew on subjective experiences, such as her childhood memories, everything flowed directly into her art and involved a broad creative spectrum. Painting, drawing and printing, the colossal but also miniature sculptures, reliefs, gardens, and also books, letters and written records, up to and including films form a unique cosmos – and the essence of her creative work.
The exhibition of more than 150 works, curated by Guido Magnaguagno, former director of the Tinguely Museum in Basel, embraces both the sculptures in the Würth Collection and works on loan from the Niki Charitable Art Foundation in California and Paris, the Sprengel Museum in Hanover and the Musée d’art moderne in Nice, to all of which Niki de Saint Phalle made generous donations of her works. The show also features works from numerous private and public lenders. It will be complemented moreover by quintessential works by Jean Tinguely, her partner of many years, and paintings by her first teacher, the still largely unknown Hugh Weiss. The presentation will also involve the artist’s films, which illustrate her dream worlds and her engagement with the patriarchy, and which are frequently dealt with quite separately from her other work.
Image: A visitor passes between US-French artist Niki de Saint Phalle’s (1930-2002) “Kingfisher Totem” (L) and her “Bird Head Totem” (R) at the “Play With Me” exhibition preview at the Kunsthalle Wuerth in Schwaebisch Hall, Germany. The Kunsthalle will show around 180 paintings, sculptures and installations at the exhibition that consist mostly of loaned artworks. The exhibition runs from 17 April until 16 October 2011. (EPA/BERND WEISSBROD)
“Niki de Saint Phalle: Play With Me,” surveying the work of Niki de Saint Phalle, opened 17 April at the Kunsthalle Würth in the Schwäbisch Hall, Künzelsau, Germany. ArtDaily.org reports:
“The Kunsthalle Würth in Schwäbisch Hall shows the wide-ranging oeuvre of the multifaceted artist Niki de Saint Phalle, undoubtedly one of the most important artists of the 20th century, in a large survey exhibition. Through her paintings, assemblages, shooting paintings (tirs), sculptures and installations, this artist created a unique cosmos which established her international reputation.” Read the full story here.
Curated by Guido Magnaguagno, former director of the Tinguely Museum in Basel, the exhibition presents more than 150 of Niki’s works. It includes sculptures from the Würth Collection and works on loan from the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, the Musée d’art moderne in Nice, and other private and public lenders. It also includes films by the artist, key works by her partner Jean Tinguely, and paintings by her first teacher, Hugh Weiss. The exhibition runs from 17 April to 16 October 2011.
Above: A visitor passes between Niki de Saint Phalle’s “Kingfisher Totem” (L) and her “Bird Head Totem” (R) at the “Play With Me” exhibition preview at the Kunsthalle Würth in Künzelsau, Germany. (EPA/BERND WEISSBROD)
The Wall Street Journal has some advice for its readers: Don’t miss “Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology,” the new exhibition that opened 18 March at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Under the heading “A Playful Sculptress,” the Journal includes the show in its “Don’t Miss” section for the week of 9-15 April.
As the Journal notes, the exhibition includes some 60 works by Niki de Saint Phalle, in addition to five large-scale sculptures on outdoor display in the Green next to the museum.
At right is La Cabeza (2000), shown here installed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden for the 2006 exhibition “Niki in the Garden.”
We’re pleased to announce the donation to the Niki Charitable Art Foundation of arts advocate Lyn Kienholz’s personal archives related to Niki de Saint Phalle. These archives include correspondence, photos, proposals, construction and financial plans, event plans, notes and research, and original letters and drawings by Niki de Saint Phalle, as well as images of maquettes for unrealized projects and an array of other materials.
Lyn Kienholz, a longtime advocate for the arts, is founder and president of the nonprofit California/International Arts Foundation, which partners with U.S. and international museums to organize and tour art exhibitions. She also serves on boards of directors for many national and international arts organizations and public galleries.
We wish to express our deep appreciation for this generous donation.
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, 22 MARCH 2011 — The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art presents Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology now through October 3, 2011. The exhibition celebrates the artist’s extraordinary appetite for myths and legends as interpreted through dynamic and often provocative sculpture, paintings and prints. The Bechtler offers 55 works inside the museum and five large-scale outdoor sculptures across the street in Wells Fargo’s public park, The Green, in addition to the Firebird sculpture that graces the museum’s plaza.
Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology is made possible with a generous grant from Wells Fargo Private Bank.
“Wells Fargo Private Bank is pleased to be the presenting sponsor of this compelling exhibition,” commented Madelyn Caple, Wells Fargo Private Bank Regional Director. “Niki de Saint Phalle’s approach to art was both intellectually rigorous and playful all at once. Her work is appealing and intriguing to both adults and children, established and novice museum goers and those with a natural curiosity about modern art. The installation at The Green, a Wells Fargo property, will allow the public to engage with the art seven days a week through fall of this year in a beautiful outdoor space.” Caple adds, “This unique installation is a natural way for us to continue our already significant investment in the development of Uptown Charlotte’s cultural facilities.”
Niki, as she preferred to be called, was one of the most significant and unconventional female artists of the 20th century. She burst upon the art world in the 1960s as a provocative and wildly independent artist whose life and work were equally flamboyant. She became the only female member of the avant-garde Nouveau Réalistes, a contemporary of America’s Pop art movement, and collaborated with leading artists of the day including Yves Klein, Christo and Jean Tinguely, whom she later married.
She is best known for her series of “Nanas,” voluminous female forms often constructed in joyful, dance-like poses, and large-scale installations such as the Stravinsky Fountain near the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Tarot Garden in Tuscany. Niki’s work often reflected her life and revealed her opinions about femininity, mythology, fairytales, violence and personal anxiety. She died in 2002 of pneumonia, her lungs damaged by decades of breathing polyester fiber used in the creation of many of her works.
The works in Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology range from the whimsical and wondrous to dark and serious. The exhibition relies on a handful of interconnected ideas and opinions to reveal the intellectual depth and reach of Niki’s engagement with the worlds of myth, legend, religion and cultural archetypes. Many works by Niki are set in fantastic surroundings — dreamscapes populated by strange creatures, combinations of animals out of place with each other and their environment, sometimes threatening, other times benevolent and peaceful. Niki passed through various stages in her evolution as an intellectual, an artist and a woman and viewers will see several of these stages throughout the works in this exhibition.
Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology provides intellectual inquiry mixed with a sense of provocation, joy and delight. The exhibition marks the first time the Bechtler has displayed works from outside its collection. Fifty-nine of the 60 works are on loan from the Niki Charitable Arts Foundation. The whimsical and boldly colored sculptures, prints and tableaux éclatés (kinetic wall sculptures) represent five decades of the artist’s career.
A principal objective of the Bechtler’s exhibition program is to bring greater insight and understanding to the works in the museum’s collection. One of the primary ways to achieve that goal is to put artwork in the larger context of the artist’s career. Therefore, the Bechtler will seek to borrow works from individuals and other institutions, such as the Niki Charitable Arts Foundation, that will provide that context historically, biographically, but most importantly, artistically. This exhibition provides greater meaning to the Bechtler’s Niki de Saint Phalle holdings, the Firebird in particular, by presenting so many other works that demonstrate the same subject matter and interests of the artist.
Outdoor Sculptures
Niki’s outdoor sculptures are admired by audiences across the globe. Her playful, larger-than-life creations are constructed from fiberglass, colorful stones, glass, mirrors and ceramic tiles. The total weight of the five sculptures included in the Bechtler exhibition is 13,046 pounds. In partnership with Wells Fargo, which owns the 1.5 acre landscaped park atop a four-level parking structure across the street from the Bechtler, the works have been strategically placed throughout the space based upon the weight of each piece.
Visitors are encouraged to touch the outdoor works. The artist especially enjoyed seeing children climbing on her animal sculptures. Cat, on view in the Bechtler’s exhibition, is meant to be explored from the inside out as is La Cabeza, the brightly colored skull that sits along the Tryon Street side of the park.
Also included among the outdoor works are sculptures of Miles Davis and Tiger Woods (Golf Player), two figures from Niki’s Black Heroes series, which portrays famous African-American musicians and athletes.
Currently, audio commentary for only the Miles Davis and La Cabeza sculptures is accessible by mobile phone. Audio for the remaining three sculptures will follow at a later date. The phone numbers will appear on the exhibition label for each artwork.
Exhibition-related Programming
Jazz at the Bechtler (April 1). This popular music series moves outside and across the street to The Green for a tribute to Miles Davis performed near Niki de Saint Phalle’s sculpture of the musician. 6 to 8 p.m. Admission fee to be determined.
Film (April 15).Monster in the Forest: The Story of the Cyclop is an art-house film about the collaborative efforts of Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle in the creation of the Cyclop, a monumental sculpture located on the outskirts of Paris. Museum video gallery, 6 p.m. Free with museum admission.
One Work lecture (April 18).Vive Moi, a sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle, will be the focus of a discussion led by museum President and CEO John Boyer. Fourth-floor gallery, 6 p.m. Free for members and $10 for non-members.
Music and Museum Series (April 29 and May 1). Performances of Chamber Music and Jazz: The Fusion Cabaret will feature music composed by Claude Bolling and William Bolcom paired with artwork by Niki de Saint Phalle. Lobby, 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for museum members, $20 for non-members.
Family Day (May 7). Kids of all ages can experiment with methods and materials addressed in the Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition. Activities will be held on the museum plaza, in the lobby and across the street in The Green, noon to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free for those under 18 years old; all others receive a discounted ticket price of $4.
Open to the public 18 March – 3 October 2011
Media Contact
Pam Davis
Director of Communications and Marketing
Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
704.353.9204 (office)
704.975.2363 (mobile) pam.davis@bechtler.org
The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, North Carolina, has announced the opening of its new exhibition Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology, on exhibit now through 3 October 2011. The Bechtler, whose permanent collection includes works by both Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, is already home to Niki’s Firebird, a huge sculpture on permanent public display in front of the museum.
The announcement begins:
“The exhibition celebrates the artist’s extraordinary appetite for myths and legends as interpreted through dynamic and often provocative sculpture, paintings and prints. The Bechtler offers 55 works inside the museum and five large-scale outdoor sculptures across the street in Wells Fargo’s public park, The Green, in addition to the Firebird sculpture that graces the museum’s plaza.”
For the opening of the new exhibition “Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology” on 18 March at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, WFAE radio in Charlotte, North Carolina interviewed Laura Duke, Niki’s daughter; Bloum Cardenas, Niki’s granddaughter and a trustee of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation; Dave Stevenson and Marcelo Zitelli, also trustees of the Foundation; and John Boyer, President and CEO of the Bechtler. (Laura Duke and Bloum Cardenas are seen in the photo at right.)
The interview, nearly an hour long, includes a wide-ranging discussion of Niki’s life and work, her relationship with her lifelong partner Jean Tinguely, and the exhibition itself. Click and enjoy.
“The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art unveiled a new exhibit Saturday in uptown Charlotte,” reports WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Five large-scale mixed-media sculptures by French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle were placed in the Green, next to the museum.” The enormous sculptures, “large enough that kids can play in them,” include La Cabeza (2000), a six-ton skull in green, yellow, and red with room for a dozen people inside. Another, shown here, is Niki’s Grande Step Totem (2001).
“The display is a prelude to a larger exhibit of the artist’s work, set to go on display Friday, March 18th,” adds the report. “The outdoor works will remain on display until October.”
The Bechtler is home to Niki’s popular Firebird (a.k.a. Le grand oiseau de feu sur l’arche), now on permanent public display in front of the museum.
For the indoor exhibition — entitled “Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology” and running from 18 March through 30 September — the Bechtler will be showing about 60 additional works by Niki de Saint Phalle in its fourth-floor gallery, as reported in January by the Charlotte Observer. Watch this space for more news about this exhibition.
Niki de Saint Phalle’s colossal mosaic sculpture, The Star Fountain (Blue), will be on view free and open to the public at the 2011 Times Square Show, a large-scale outdoor group exhibition on Broadway and 42nd Street in New York City, from 1–7 March 2011.
The sculpture depicts a flamboyant and playful ‘Nana’ juggling two large pitchers from which water constantly cascades. Standing nearly 10 feet tall, the voluptuous female figure is an archetype of feminine power and strength celebrating motherhood, sensuality, love, and life. Installed in the heart of New York’s theater district, its mirrored and stained glass tesserae, reflecting the city’s flickering lights and vibration, provide a rare opportunity to dive into Niki’s realm.
This work is presented by the Nohra Haime Gallery, with the support of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, in collaboration with the Armory Art Show and the Times Square Alliance. A reception will be held 1 March from 7-9pm at the Times Square Visitor Center.
March 8 is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. To celebrate, Kunsthalle Wien — which has extended the exhibition “POWER UP – Female Pop Art” through today — will feature a special midday program: POWER LUNCH, a guided tour of the show by curator Angela Stief.
Later in the day, Ursula Leitgeb and Hafize Gültekin will offer another guided tour of the exhibition (in German, with translation into Turkish) with the title “Vorsicht, Emanzipation kann Ihre Befindlichkeit nachhaltig verbessern!” (“Warning: Emancipation can produce a lasting improvement in your mood!”).
If you’re in Vienna and would like to register for the POWER LUNCH tour, contact Isabella Drozda at +43-1-521 89-1255 or kunstvermittlung@kunsthallewien.at. (Admission is € 5, which includes snacks following the tour.) For more information (also in German) about either event, visit the Kunsthalle Wien web site.
Finally, if you aren’t in Vienna or just can’t make it to the show today, don’t panic. “POWER UP – Female Pop Art” will also be appearing at Phoenix Art/Stiftung Falckenberg (in cooperation with Deichtorhallen Hamburg) from 19 April – 10 July, and at the Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen from 23 July – 9 October. Learn more about the exhibition.
18 APRIL 2011