Niki de Saint Phalle

Tate Liverpool will present the first UK exhibition of the work of Franco-American painter and sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle since her death in 2002. The exhibition presents a comprehensive survey of the artist’s entire career and will include key examples from all phases of her work; from her early assemblages and paintings in the 1950s, her acclaimed Shooting Paintings in the early 1960s, her religious altars and bride sculptures in the mid 1960s, the Nanas and larger sculptural works, a wide selection of graphic work, to her late works including drawings and model sculptures from her Tarot Garden.

Beautiful, flamboyant, daring, provocative and fiercely independent, Niki de Saint Phalle emerged in the 1960s as a powerful and original figure in the masculine international arts world centred around Paris. Yet despite her association with the Nouveau Réalistes, and a number of collaborations with many of the world’s leading artists and her marriage to Jean Tinguely, her work has been overlooked, or dismissed as merely playful. A believer in mythology and fairytales, her work is bright and colourful, demonstrating an exuberant love of life, at the same time revealing a certain darkness. This exhibition, a wide-ranging presentation of the work and exploration of her themes and concerns, will attempt to address this oversight and bring her work to a wider audience.

Supported by The Henry Moore Institute with additional support from the French Institute Curators Simon Groom and Kyla McDonald

Niki de Saint Phalle
Kuratoren: Simon Groom, Kyla McDonald