Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), was a French-American artist whose sculptures are enjoyed and praised the world over. Inspired by the women’s movement of the 1960s, she began making life-sized dolls of women that defied accepted female roles. Having experienced a tragic and traumatized childhood, de Saint Phalle managed through her art to turn lemons into lemonade. An untrained but highly original and talented artist, she first created somber dolls made of soft materials such as papier mâché and cloth. These figures evolved quickly into colorful, joyful, and playful goddesses titled “NANAS.” “I started painting in the madhouse where I learnt how to translate emotions, fear, violence, hope and joy into painting. It was through creation that I discovered the sombre depths of depression, and how to overcome it.”
De Saint Phalle’s archetypal female is the direct opposite of her own extremely slender body type. Nanas are excessively full-bodied, rotund or roly-poly, like the first images of women carved in the Late Paleolithic Period (c 30,000-25,000 BCE). Nanas are matriarchal, positive, and liberated women who are capable of taking on any role in society. Translated from the French, the word Nana can mean grandmother, girl, babe, girlfriend, bird, pussy, doll, or moll, some of which have a demeaning or vulgar connotation. De Saint Phalle’s Nanas will not be denigrated or disrespected by any man. She stated, “I think I made them so large, so that man would look very small next to them.”
In her autobiography Traces (1999), she relates that the only time in her childhood when she was happy and felt safe was in the kitchen with the family’s cook, who was a black woman. “Black Venus” (1965-67) (110” x 51” x 31”) (painted polyester), is dressed in a colorful bathing suit painted with hearts, flowers, suns, and assorted stripes. She is balanced amazingly on her right leg, her left leg jauntily raised behind her, her arms raised over her head, and her hands hold a striped beach ball about to be tossed. Her face is indistinct; she is every woman. The small heart on her right breast of her bathing suit is an iconic signature that appears on all de Saint Phalle’s figures.
“Nana on a Dolphin” (1998) (12.5’ tall) (1,100 pounds) is a voluptuous figure, posed on her left leg she balances a red ball on her upraised right arm. Nana and the dolphin are created from multiple brilliantly colored and sparkling mosaics. Nana wears a glittering silver swimsuit made from mirror mosaic. The dolphin is created with pattern of colors that send it gliding through the water or up into the air as it jumps. Sunny yellow stripes play against a rich scarlet, turquoise and emerald green form the nose and flippers, while multicolored scallops with an indigo blue base form the rest of the dolphin’s sleek body. Nana might remind viewers of Venus/Aphrodite the legendary Goddess of Love, who was born from seafoam and carried to shore on the back of a dolphin.
De Saint Phalle’s Nanas are depicted in the colors of all races, and of the rainbow. “Three Graces” (1995) includes black, white, and yellow Nanas in their brightly colored bathing suits. The “Three Graces” are agile, sprightly, and graceful as they move in their happy space. A reference to mythology, they are daughters of Zeus and named Euphrosyne (mirth), Aglaia (elegant and shining), and Thalia (youth and beauty). “Three Graces” have been represented in the arts from Ancient Greece to the 21st Century.
De Saint Phalle received numerous commissions during her career. “Guardian Angel” (1997) (36 feet tall) (1.2 tons) was commissioned by the Securitas Company to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Swiss Federal Railways. Hanging from the main concourse ceiling of the Zurich train station, this bright blue “Guardian Angel” has golden wings and wears a colorful bathing suit. She holds a silver vessel in each hand from which flowing red lines of energy are generated, The sculpture was too large to be carried in a cargo plane, so it was cut into three sections to be transported from San Diego, California to Zurich. The artist oversaw the installation. Asked about the work, she said, ‘‘Everyone wants to feel protected when they’re travelling. And in today’s world, we need very special protection.’’
De Saint Phalle’s creations number in the hundreds. The image of Nanas is just one of many. With Swiss artists Jean Tinguely, she created a series of “Paradise Fantastique” for the French pavilion at the Montreal Expo (1967-71). She purchased 14 acres of land in Tuscany in 1979, and she created 22 sculptures inspired by tarot cards for the “Tarot Garden” over the next 19 years. Her sculpture “Golem” (1971-72), of a mythological Hebrew figure brought to life by incantations to help Israel, but who often turns from good to evil, can be found in the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. From 1994 to 2001, it was joined by 23 de Saint Phalle sculptures of Biblical animals. In the numerous places where her sculptures are found, many are available to children to touch, sit on, climb and explore, and they do.
“Serpent Tree” (1998) is one of these works. De Saint Phalle stated she uses “tales and myths as a springboard to create fantastic creatures of my imagination.” From the cobra of the Nile to the Nagas of Hinduism and Buddhism, snakes have played a role in almost all cultures. Snakes can represent evil, the serpent in the Garden of Eden being one, but also are related to rebirth, immortality and women’s power, as can be seen in the Snake Goddess figures of Crete. De Saint Phalle depicts snakes from the feminine point of view as powerful, helpful and non-frightening. The gaily patterned tree symbolizes life and growing things. Various snakes form the powerful branches that end in golden heads. Mouths open, they do not frighten, but seem friendly.
As a result of the toxic materials she used, de Saint Phalle suffered from hyperthyroidism and several chronic diseases; yet she continued to work until her death in 2002. She donated 300 works to the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany and 170 to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice. She supported many social causes including ending racial segregation, promoting civil rights, finding a cure and supporting AIDS victims, fighting all social injustice, and above all women’s rights. “I think women could administer this world much better. If Black power and women power would get together, they would take over everything. That’s the solution. A new world of joy.”
She well aware of the various reactions to the Nanas: “They represent the independent, good, giving and happy mother. So it’s not surprising that they evoke such strong emotions of love and hate in people.” She had two happy marriages and two children, to whom she was a loving mother. She was able to become the maternal and joyful woman she sculpted. “At a very early age, I decided to be a heroine. This was mainly difficult but it was also great – and exciting.”
NOTE: de Saint Phalle wrote several books and made films. Books and images of her numerous creations for sculpture parks and gardens are readily available online.
Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.
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