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Exhibition

Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle
Green Sky, Mai 1961
Assemblage
ahlers collection
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017
01. February 2014 - 21. April 2014

Niki de Saint Phalle

En joue! ASSEMBLAGES AND SHOOTING PAINTINGS 1958–1964

The exhibition centres on a group of major early works which document a key phase in the artist’s development: the period in which she joined the nouveau réalismemovement. It revolves around one important turning-point, when Niki Mathews took on her artist’s name – Niki de Saint Phalle – and extended the assemblage technique she had practised up to that point, adding an ‘active’ practice of artistic creation that would lead to her famous shooting paintings (Tirs).

In 1961, Niki was invited by Jacques Villeglé to take part in the Salon Comparaisons. The piece she showed – Portrait de mon Amour – tentative d’exorcisation d’un amant insistant – was an assemblage consisting of a shirt she had stolen from her lover and a dartboard that served as a head. The public had to try to throw darts and hit the bullseye. This represented Niki’s first public action and her very first shooting painting. She herself explained that a large white picture by Bram Bogart had been hanging next to her piece, which had given her the idea of ‘letting the painting bleed’. According to her, she worked feverishly on the project, inviting Pierre Restany a few days later to witness the painting being shot at with a rifle. This immediately prompted Restany to introduce her to the circle of nouveaux réalistes and invite her to put on her first solo show in Paris. The exhibition Feu à volonté (Open Fire) in Galerie J saw Niki exhibit her shooting paintings publically for the very first time. It was attended by Leo Castelli, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and countless other influential figures in the art scene at that time. Exhibitions followed in Los Angeles (Dwan Gallery), Amsterdam (Stedelijk Museum) and New York (Iolas Gallery), signalling the start of the artist’s international career.

Each formative step along the evolution of Niki’s artistic career is represented by key works in our exhibition: the miniature-like Paysages-Assemblages from 1960–61, Portrait de mon Amour and Le Grand Tir – Séances de la Galerie J from 1961, the famous Pirodactyl over New York (the last large-scale shooting portrait assemblage from 1962), the Études of 1963 for her large King Kong, today on display at the Modern Museet in Stockholm, and the Coeurs and Cathédrales, which illustrate the return of storytelling to her unique oeuvre. This first magical ‘moment’ lasted five years, which passed at breakneck speed; there were many more to come over the course of her long career. These are the years upon which we wish to reflect on in our exhibition. 

The exhibition was produced in close partnership with the administrators of Niki de Saint Phalle’s estate, alongside the Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois. It was first shown in Paris and can only be seen in Germany at the Ahlers Pro Arte Foundation in Hanover. The artist’s work is particularly present in the city, especially in the collection of the Sprengel Museum. The exhibitions in Paris and Hanover were accompanied by a catalogue in three languages, which was put together by Norbert Nobis, Catherine Francblin, Michelle Grabner (future curator of the Whitney Biennale, New York) and Jacques Villeglé.

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