SCHIRN NEWSROOM: NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE

NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE

FEBRUARY, 3 – MAY 21, 2023

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) is one of the most famous women artists of her generation and is deemed a main representative of European Pop Art and a cocreator of the Happening. From February 3 to May 21, 2023, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting the wide-ranging oeuvre of the French-American visionary in a comprehensive exhibition that, through around one hundred works, offers an overview of all of her practice’s phases. In the five decades of her creative work, Saint Phalle developed an unmistakable language of form and a multifaceted oeuvre. The "Nanas", her colorful large-format sculptures of women, laid the foundations for her international success and are regarded to this day as her trademark.

The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt presents Niki de Saint Phalles wide-ranging oeuvre in a comprehensive survey exhibition

To accompany the exhibition, the Schirn is offering a Digitorial® that offers fascinating background information about the subversive artist.

This free-of-charge digital educational offering can be accessed in German and English. For Smartphone, Tablet and Desktop.

TO THE DIGITORIAL

CATALOG

The publication takes a comprehensive look at the artist and opens up the work of this popular outsider, which is always surprising, eccentric, emotional, dark but also humorous.

"NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE", published by Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft / Kunsthaus Zürich andSchirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, German and English editions, 207 pages, 195 illustrations, 23.5 × 29 cm, softcover, gatefold brochure, Hatje Cantz Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7757-5299-2 (German edition), 978-3-7757-5300-5 (English edition), €35 (Schirn), €44 (bookstores).

However, Saint Phalle was an autodidact whose artistic spectrum also extended far beyond these pieces. She focused on different techniques, topics, and working methods and created ambivalent and subversive works full of joy and brutality, humor and waywardness. For Saint Phalle, art was more than a mere means of expression: it was a personal necessity that could be used to challenge social conventions. In her work, she repeatedly articulated a plea for women and the feminine. She criticized institutions and conventional models and addressed social and political issues in her work, including war and violence as well as the stigmatization associated with AIDS, the right to abortion, gun laws, and climate change.

CURATORS

Katharina Dohm, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, and Christoph Becker, Kunsthaus Zürich

Niki de Saint Phalle, King-Kong, 1962, Shooting painting, paint, plaster, and various objects on wood, 276 x 611 x 47 cm (in 5 parts), Albin Dahlström / Moderna Museet, © 2023 Niki Charitable Art Foundation / Adagp, Paris

Press Texts

Press information for the exhibition "Niki de Saint Phalle"

02.02.2023 | Here you can read the press information for the exhibition "Niki de Saint Phalle" (February, 3–May 21, 2023).

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WALL PANELS OF THE EXHIBITION NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE

02.02.2023 | Here you can find the texts of the wall panels of the exhibition "Niki de Saint Phalle".

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Press Images

The press images that have been made available in the SCHIRN’s newsroom may be used at no charge exclusively by the media (print, online, television, radio) for current coverage on the respective exhibition/project according to Section 50 of the German Copyright Act. They may not be used for any other purpose without the express permission of the respective copyright holder. When using the press images, the accompanying proof of copyright must be observed and likewise cited unchanged in direct relationship with the respective image. The press images may not be cropped or changed. If reproduced on the internet the images must be imbedded and not downloadable with a maximal resolution of 72 dpi and a maximal size of 20 x 20 cm.