Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life at MoMA PS1. Preview of exhibition until MoMA PS1 reopens to the public

“MoMA PS1 will present the first New York museum exhibition of the work of visionary feminist and activist artist Niki de Saint Phalle (American and French, 1930‒2002). On view from April 5 to September 7, 2020, the exhibition will feature over 100 works created from the 1970s until the artist’s death, including sculptures, prints, drawings, jewelry, and archival material. Highlighting Saint Phalle’s interdisciplinary approach and engagement with key social and political issues, the exhibition will focus on works that she created to transform environments, individuals, and society.

Early in her career, Saint Phalle pushed against accepted artistic practices, creating work that used assemblage and performative modes of production. Collaboration was always central to her work, including several co-authored sculptures made with the artist Jean Tinguely. Beginning in the late 1960s, Saint Phalle starting making large-scale sculptures, which led to an expansion of her practice into architectural projects, sculpture gardens, books, prints, films, theater sets, clothing, jewelry, and, famously, her own perfume.

Saint Phalle’s central life project, Tarot Garden, is a massive architectural park outside Rome, Italy, which she began constructing in the late 1970s and continued to develop alongside key collaborators until her death. Opened to the public in 1998, the garden and its structures, which are based on the Major Arcana of the tarot deck, allow for moments of interaction and reflection that underscore Saint Phalle’s use of art to alter perception. The exhibition will include photographs and drawings of Tarot Garden as well as models that Saint Phalle created for its various structures.” — MoMA PS1

Photo de la Hon repeinte

Niki de Saint Phalle. Photo de la Hon repeinte. 1979. © 2020 NIKI CHARITABLE ART FOUNDATION. Photo: Katrin Baumann

Affiche "What is now known was once only imagined"

Niki de Saint Phalle. What is now known was once only imagined. 1979. Offset print. © 2020 NIKI CHARITABLE ART FOUNDATION. Photo: NCAF Archives

Tarot Garden, 1991

Niki de Saint Phalle. Tarot Garden. 1991. Lithograph, 23.7 x 31.5″ (60.3 x 80 cm). © 2020 NIKI CHARITABLE ART FOUNDATION. Photo: Ed Kessler

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Niki de Saint Phalle. Tarot Garden, Garavicchio, Italy. © 2020 FONDAZIONE IL GIARDINO DEI TAROCCHI. Photo: Peter Granser

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Niki de Saint Phalle. Interior view of Empress, Tarot Garden, Garavicchio, Italy © 2020 FONDAZIONE IL GIARDINO DEI TAROCCHI. Photo: Peter Granser

Book cover 'AIDS - You can't catch it holding hands', 1986

Niki de Saint Phalle. Book cover for AIDS, you can’t catch it holding hands. 1986. © 2020 NIKI CHARITABLE ART FOUNDATION. Photo: NCAF Archives

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Niki de Saint Phalle at Tarot Garden, Garavicchio, Italy, 1980s. Photographer unknown.

Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life is organized by Ruba Katrib, Curator, MoMA PS1.

Images courtesy MoMA PS1.