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Lot Essay
This work is one of the first of Niki de Saint Phalle's celebrated Nanas that the artist executed for an exhibition at the Galerie Alexandre Iolas in 1965. An apotheosis of woman, the Nana has since come to be seen as the key image from de Saint Phalle's oeuvre. A proud assertion of the strength, joy, love and power of 'Woman', the artist commented, "with the Nanas, I would show everything. My heart, my emotions, green, red, yellow, blue, violet, hate, love, fear." (quoted in exh. cat., Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Bonn 1992, p. 186)
This first series of de Saint Phalle's Nanas are, unlike the majority of their antecedents, richly textured sculptures that with their colourful hearts, brilliant colouring, large ungainly proportions and joyful poses create a strong and pervasive sense of fun and unbridled emotion. Made from papier mch laid over chicken wire which has then been adorned with a dense surface of oil paint and wool laid and pasted into a myriad of colourful shapes, symbols and patterns in an appliqu style, they conjur a joyous sense of warmth and homeliness. Dramatically leaping, crouching and pirouetting in a variety of exaggerated and often humourous ways, these quintessentially feminine figures are a joyous celebration of life.
"I love roundness", de Phalle has said, "the curves, the undulation; I do not like right-angles, they scare me. The right angle is a killer. I love imperfection. Perfection is cold. Imperfection gives life. I love life." (Niki de Saint-Phalle quoted in Niki de Saint-Phalle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1980, p. 48)
This first series of de Saint Phalle's Nanas are, unlike the majority of their antecedents, richly textured sculptures that with their colourful hearts, brilliant colouring, large ungainly proportions and joyful poses create a strong and pervasive sense of fun and unbridled emotion. Made from papier mch laid over chicken wire which has then been adorned with a dense surface of oil paint and wool laid and pasted into a myriad of colourful shapes, symbols and patterns in an appliqu style, they conjur a joyous sense of warmth and homeliness. Dramatically leaping, crouching and pirouetting in a variety of exaggerated and often humourous ways, these quintessentially feminine figures are a joyous celebration of life.
"I love roundness", de Phalle has said, "the curves, the undulation; I do not like right-angles, they scare me. The right angle is a killer. I love imperfection. Perfection is cold. Imperfection gives life. I love life." (Niki de Saint-Phalle quoted in Niki de Saint-Phalle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1980, p. 48)