Tribute to Niki de Saint Phalle extended

The artist is perhaps best known for her "Nana" sculptures swissinfo.ch

An exhibition paying homage to the artist Niki de Saint Phalle has proved so popular among the Swiss public that it has been extended for six weeks.

It was mounted in Fribourg’s “L’Espace Jean Tinguely – Niki de Saint Phalle” shortly after her death in May this year at the age of 71.

Her marriage to the Swiss sculptor and painter Jean Tinguely was one of the 20th century’s most important artistic partnerships.

Canton Fribourg-born Tinguely, who died 11 years ago, is famous for his kinetic sculptures which are like fantasy machines depending on movement for effect.

But de Saint Phalle was equally well known, thanks to her trademark “Nanas”, which are mother figures reminiscent of prehistoric fertility idols, with their stylised voluptuous shapes and colours.

Tribute

Museum director Yvonne Lehnherr told swissinfo that she had conceived the idea of a tribute exhibition immediately after the French-born artist’s death.

“I wrote to Niki’s friends and collectors in Switzerland,” she said, “and they all answered rapidly with offers to lend us small sculptures, serigraphs, letters and photographs.

“Our aim was to show to the Swiss public how well-known and how well-liked she was in this country.”

That affection was clearly reciprocated by de Saint Phalle, judging by the illustrated letters – themselves works of art – she sent to her friends.

These, displayed alongside photographs of her, reveal a woman with a talent for friendship who, in the words of Lehnherr, projected an inner glow.

Jean Tinguely

Although de Saint Phalle never actually lived in Fribourg, she made occasional visits and in the late 1990s was a generous donator of works by Tinguely to the museum bearing the couple’s name.

Her last visit was in 1997 when “L’Espace” – a former tram depot – was still under reconstruction.

This was shortly after the unveiling of her eye-catching “Guardian Angel” sculpture, which watches over thousands of rail travellers every day at the central railway station in Zurich.

The Fribourg exhibition – it ends on October 13 – includes one of the “Nana” figures whose creation contributed to her death from respiratory problems.

“Niki began using polyester paint on these sculptures in the early 1960s, when the toxicity of emanations from the material was not known,” said Lehnherr.

But even when her health deteriorated the artist continued to work and, as the exhibition shows, to keep in touch with her Swiss friends.

swissinfo, Richard Dawson

Niki de Sait Phalle

De Saint Phalle died in San Diego in May this year.
She was married to the late Swiss artist, Jean Tinguely.
Her most famous works are her “Nanas”.
The Fribourg exhibition ends on October 13.