Niki de Saint Phalle French-American, 1924-2010
Oiseau Amoureux, 2000
Painted resin
60 × 48 × 23 cm
Edition of 150
Signed and numbered on the reverse, with the stamp of Haligon Plastiques d'art
Copyright The Artist
Birds are another of Niki's most important subjects: the bestiary. In the early 1990s, she worked on a project that had fascinated her for over ten years, Noah's Ark. This...
Birds are another of Niki's most important subjects: the bestiary. In the early 1990s, she worked on a project that had fascinated her for over ten years, Noah's Ark. This project, intended for a park in Jerusalem, depicts the arrival of the vault of heaven. To create the animals, she looked at the earliest representations of them by humans. She studied how they were drawn before the invention of photography. The result was hybrid, fantastical animals, reminiscent of the totems she created by looking at those of ancient civilisations. As is often the case, birds can be a symbol of humans, who are very often absent from the artist's work. She said: ‘Where are the men in my work? When men are in love, they are animals. When they are evil, they become monsters. The bird. When I pull its wings, I breathe.’ This work, depicted with open wings, symbolises a free, happy and fulfilled Niki de Saint Phalle.
Provenance
Artist's studioGalerie Guy Pieters, Belgique
Collection privée, France
Exhibitions
Hannover, Sprengel Museum, La Fête. Die Schenkung Niki de Saint Phalle. Werke aus den Jahren 1952-2001, November – February 2001 (another example exhibited)Bern, Galerie Kornfeld, Niki de Saint Phalle: Skulpturen Objekte Lithographien Serigraphien, September December 2001 (another example exhibited)
Amsterdam, Gallery Delaive, Niki de Saint Phalle: Recent Sculptures, November – December 2001 (another example exhibited)
Ulm, Fischerplatz Galerie, Leckerbissen II, January – February 2006 (another example exhibited)
Rheinstetten, Internationale Messe für Klassische Moderne und Gegenwartskunst. art Karlsruhe, March 2006 (another example exhibited)
Fécamp, Palais Bénédictine, Niki de Saint Phalle: Vive l'amour! June - Septembe 2006 (another example exhibited)
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Guy Pieters Gallery, Jean-Michel Folon – Niki de Saint-Phalle – Sam Francis, October - November 2008 (another example exhibited)
Saint-Paul de Vence, Galerie Guy Pieters, Niki de Saint-Phalle, July – September 2009 (another example exhibited)
Beirut, Metropolitan Club Achrafieh, July 2010 (another example exhibited)
Paris, Grand Palais, Rétrospective Niki de Saint Phalle du 17 Septembre 2014 au 02 Février 2015.
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