Niki de Saint Phalle. Les Baigneurs, 1983. Installed on Park Avenue, New York 2012 © 2012 Niki Charitable Art Foundation, All rights reserved. Photo: © Laura Maloney.
This major site-specific installation will include nine monumental sculptures made of polyester resin, with mosaics of ceramic, mirror and stained glass, towering as high as 16 feet and as wide as 13 feet. It will feature Saint Phalle’s signature nanas and totems, as well as works from her iconic Black Heroes series depicting legendary jazz musicians and athletes.
Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) was a prominent French-American artist, self-taught sculptor, painter and filmmaker. Through her work, the multi-faceted Saint Phalle created a unique universe which established her international reputation. Some of her best known public sculptures are The Stravinsky Fountain next to the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1983), The Tarot Garden at Garavicchio in southern Tuscany (opened 1998), The Grotto in Hannover’s Royal Herrenhausen Garden (2003, finished posthumously), and the Queen Califia’s Magical Circle in California (2003). Saint Phalle, who began her career as an artist in the 1950’s, was awarded in 2000 the 12th Praemium Imperial Prize in Japan, considered to be the equivalent to the Nobel Prize in the art world. Born in 1930, in Neuilly Sur Seine, Saint Phalle died in 2002, at the age of 71 in La Jolla, California.
The Works
Nine sculptures will be exhibited including Les Baigneurs, (1983) made in polyester resin representing Saint Phalle’s first period. Later works in mosaic and painted polyester such as Nana On a Dolphin , (1998) and Les Trois Graces , (1999) will be displayed along Park Avenue. Important works from the Black Heroes series such as Louis Armstrong , (1999) and Miles Davis , (1999) which show tribute to famous jazz musicians, #19 Baseball Player, ( 1999) a tribute to Tony Gwynn, and #23 Basketball Player, (1999) honoring Michael Jordan will also be included. Saint Phalle’s Grand Step Totem, ( 2001), a work from her sculpture garden Queen Califia’s Magical Circle in Escondido, California will be part of the exhibition as well.
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