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In this written series “Women Who Metamorphosed Art” I want to deep dive into selected female artists who contributed to art history but are rarely renowned for doing so. As education and media often highlights the contributions of male artists and their works it’s time to educate ourselves on the equal importance of female artists as well. This week we continue onwards with the focus on Niki de Saint Phalle and her nouveau realist sculptures that created a refreshing take on the female body and changed the course of conceptual art.
Saint Phalle was a French-American artist distinguished by her, often, larger than life sculptures that presented the female body in unseen ways. Prior to the 1970s, a lot of the art movements presented women as sirens with passive personalities, and their bodies were basically depicted as a vessel for these submissive women. Therefore, the depiction of the female body was restricted to these specific standards of beauty and rarely portrayed women with much character. Ergo Saint Phalle, seeing these former depictions of women, she decided to change the standard and began a series of sculptures called ‘Nanas’ that showed fuller and more vibrant views of the female body. The name of the sculptures comes from a French insult used to describe the ‘transition’ of girls into ‘audacious’ women, which allows Saint Phalle to redefine this term as a compliment.
The Three Graces, 1999, Niki de Saint Phalle, via National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.
Furthermore, in these sculptures, Saint Phalle does not take away the femme fatale nature of the depiction of women but instead enforces it through different standards, primarily a female gaze whereby there is an actual celebration of the female body rather than taking advantage of it.
With Saint Phalle’s work there is not only a transformation of the perception of the female body but there’s a transportation to this other artistic multiverse whereby a lot of the ground-rules for art are forgotten and it is about the experience of this artwork alone. In other words, Saint Phalle progressed conceptual art as an immersive experience for the viewer and showed that the conventional standards for art do not matter in her world. One of her artworks that best exemplifies this idea is Hon-en katedral (‘She-In Cathedral’) which she created in 1966 and stood as one of the most immersive and unique pieces of conceptual and sculptural art.
Hon -En Katedral, 1966, Niki de Saint Phalle, via Moderna Museet, Stockholm courtesy of Hans Hammarskiöld
The sculpture itself represents a pregnant woman on her back, holding energy and life in this stage of motherhood, which is rarely represented as so vibrant. However, the sculpture itself is hollow inside and holds a series of experiences which viewers immerse themselves in as soon as they enter the sculpture through the vulva opening. Inside there is then an array of things to do and see, including, but not limited to, an aquarium, a milk bar located in the woman’s breast, a fake gallery, seats for lovers and a peephole in the woman’s belly where viewers can see the whole exhibition in front of them. Overall, the whole artwork acts as an experience and explores the female body in an unconventional way, by which it shows it as a plethora of various events. Therefore, Saint Phalle desensitises the female nude figure as something purely sexual and instead expands on it and celebrates its existence in all forms and the incredible nature of the female body.
Promotional Poster for the Hon Exhibition, 1966, Jean Tinguely & Niki de Saint Phalle via Museum Tinguely, Basel.
Thus, the way I see Saint Phalle’s work is that she takes the female body, a form usually exploited by male artists through the objectifying male gaze and reconfigures it under the female gaze, whereby the female body is a vessel of many characteristics and experiences and we have the chance to actually enjoy it.
The reason behind choosing Saint Phalle’s work this week is because while raiding the library I saw a book titled ‘Seduction and the Secret Power of Women: The Lure of Sirens and Mermaids’ with a cover of the typical Rococo female nudes and there was just something so boring and overused in this portrayal. So, I felt the need to give a refresher of depictions of the female body that are fun and positive for once and Niki de Saint Phalle is definitely one of the artists who knows how to show women in this joyous way.
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