News & Announcements

A one-person exhibition of works by Niki de Saint Phalle, including selected sculptures and works on paper, will be on view at the Nohra Haime Gallery booth No. 232 at the Armory Show – Modern.

The exhibition will feature two historic works from the 1960s: Old Master, a shooting painting in plaster, and My Frankenstein, a heart-shaped assemblage of found objects. Dawn, one of Saint Phalle’s signature Nanas, will be the central focus of the exhibition, along with Double Tête and Trilogie des Obelisques. Furniture such as the Four Nanas Table, the Owl Chair and the Snake Chair will also be on view, along with her multiples California Nana and Couple Vase.

The artist’s playful sense of caprice will be further revealed in the remarkable selection of works on paper, depicting almost naïve imaginary landscapes, creatures and symbolisms.

The exhibition will be open to the public on March 4–7, following a VIP preview on March 3. Learn more.
 

Jackie Lupo writes in the Charlotte Daily about “Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely: Lifetime of Art Together and Apart,” now at the Bechtler Museum:

“Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, partners in art and a married couple in life, are together again at the new Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Charlotteans have fallen in love with the Saint Phalle Firebird in the museum’s outdoor courtyard, but there’s more inside. The museum’s second-floor gallery is dedicated to both artists, who met and started working together in the ’50s and were married in 1971.

“Visitors can see three of Tinguely’s trademark kinetic sculptures along with several two-dimensional works. Saint Phalle is represented by ‘nanas’ in two and three dimensions, as well as several reliefs and drawings…”  Read the entire article.

From 11 April to 29 August 2010, the Château de Malbrouck will present an exhibition dedicated to the work of Niki de Saint Phalle. The completely restored 15th-century Château de Malbrouck is located near Metz in northeastern France, just a stone’s throw from the German border. This exhibition is made possible through a collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation. Watch this space for more information.
 

Italy’s first major retrospective exhibition dedicated to Niki de Saint Phalle will open on 4 November 2009 at the Museum of the Rome Foundation (formerly Museo del Corso).

The exhibition will present more than 100 of Niki’s works, exploring what organizers call “an extraordinary artistic path that goes beyond classifications and fashions, mingled with a tumultuous and fascinating life.” The historic show will include many paintings from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the famous polychrome Nanas for which Niki de Saint Phalle is famous throughout the world.

The exhibition, curated by Stefano Cecchetto, is co-produced and organized by Arthemisia Group in collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation. The retrospective, which is sponsored by the Rome Foundation, will be on exhibit from 4 November 2009 through 17 January 2010.
 

Two years after a show devoted to Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, the cheerful and colorful universe of Niki de Saint Phalle — Tinguely’s wife and artistic collaborator — has come to the Museo in Erba in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

Le scatole dei segreti di Niki de Saint Phalle, a child-friendly exhibition in the form of an interactive game, is the fruit of a collaboration between Lausanne’s Center Culturel d’Aide à la Jeunesse and the Musée en Herbe in Paris. It consists of 14 modules exploring the artist’s work, short texts and games. The show gives autonomous, active children a rare opportunity to dive into an artistic universe full of life, joy and color.

The exhibition, which opened 12 September 2009, will continue through 28 February 2010. Learn more.
 

Niki de Saint Phalle: Joie de Vivre, a solo exhibition of work by Niki de Saint Phalle that came to the Fortezza Orsini in Sorano, Italy on 22 August, has been extended through 26 October.

The exhibition was shown in three venues in the Province of Grosseto, Italy, over the summer. It appeared at the Palazzo dell’Abbondanza in Massa Marittima, Italy from 31 May to 28 June 2009. It then moved to the Castello Aldobrandesco di Arcidosso in Amiata, Italy on 4 July, remaining until 19 August.
 

Marguerite Suozzi of The New York Times says “the sheer scope of elles@centrepompidou, a vast exhibit — over 500 works by 200 artists are on display — at the Centre Pompidou makes it noteworthy.” Shown at right are Niki de Saint Phalle’s Crucifixion (left) and La Mariée, both from 1963. The exhibit, which runs through 24 May 2010 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, is open Wednesdays through Mondays from 11 am to 9 pm. Adult admission is 6 euros. Read more.
 

The exhibition Niki de Saint Phalle: Mythen – Märchen – Träume (Niki de Saint Phalle: Myths – Fairy Tales – Dreams), now showing at the Kulturforum Würth in Chur, Switzerland, includes work from throughout Niki’s life, from early oil paintings through late Native American Totems. The exhibition has been extended to January 2010. Learn more.
 

Sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle are among the masterworks in “Innovations in the Third Dimension: Sculpture of Our Time,” now showing at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The exhibition showcases 45 masterpieces of modern sculpture and addresses how ideas about the medium, size, presentation, patronage, and techniques of sculpture in the 20th and 21st centuries have created exciting and startling new possibilities for the medium.

Other sculptors included in the group show, dating from the late 19th century to the present, include Alexander Archipenko, Fernando Botero, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Duane Hanson, Keith Haring, Lisa Lou, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Marc Quinn, Auguste Rodin, David Smith, Sue Webster and Tim Noble.

The exhibition, which opened on 24 January, will run through 24 May 2009.

Shown: Niki de Saint Phalle, Nana with Serpent. Painted plaster, 29 x 16 x 10 in. Collection of Sachiko and Lawrence Goodman. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: Paul Mutino.
 

The catalog for the Niki in the Garden sculpture exhibition at Chicago’s Garfield Park Conservatory has received an international design award from Graphis, the international journal of visual communication.

Graphis provides a compelling record of the most significant and influential work in design, advertising and photography past and present. Its Gold Award for Design is considered one of the most prestigious in the industry. The catalog, entitled Niki in the Garden: The Extraordinary Scupltures of Niki de Sainte Phalle, was designed by Birkdesign Inc. for the exhibition.

Images of the Niki in the Garden catalog will be featured in the hardcover Graphis Annual.

Last year, the Chicago Office of Tourism’s summer marketing campaign “Niki in the Garden” received two prestigious awards at the 2008 Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism. The campaign was named “Best Integrated Marketing Campaign” by a large organization, and received the “Best in Show” award for the overall strongest marketing campaign by any organization in the State of Illinois for 2007. “Niki in the Garden” was chosen from more than 100 applicants to receive this honor.

More than 145,000 people visited the Garfield Park Conservatory to see “Niki in the Garden,” an increase of 300 percent over the previous year’s attendance during the same time period.