NIKI DE SAINT-PHALLE À SAINT-TROPEZ EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE IN THE CITY JULY – SEPTEMBER 2017 OPENING ON SATURDAY JULY 1ST, 2017 PRESS KIT Press contact: Alice Pointet – Galerie Mitterrand - 79 rue du Temple - 75003 Paris T 33 1 43 26 26 32 - F 33 1 46 33 44 83 - [email protected] 79 RUE DU TEMPLE 75003 PARIS - T +33 1 43 26 12 05 F +33 1 46 33 44 83 [email protected] WWW.GALERIEMITTERRAND.COM THE EXHIBITION For the past number of years, the city of Saint-Tropez has organized summer sculpture exhibitions for its visitors (6.2 million tourists every year) in the city’s public spaces. This year, the city has chosen to honour the Franco-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle, famous for her sculptures of voluptuous, sensual female forms: Les Nanas. From July 1st to October 8th, 2017, visitors can enjoy a sculpture trail in and around Saint-Tropez’s iconic harbour and its immediate surroundings. This unique exhibition has been made possible thanks to the support and involvement of Jean-Pierre Tuveri, Mayor of Saint-Tropez, as well as Bloum Cardenas, Niki de Saint Phalle’s granddaughter. The exhibition is a sequel to the retrospective devoted to the artist at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2015, which attracted over 500,000 visitors. The town hall has asked the Galerie Mitterrand to play the role of advisor for the exhibition, given its artistic expertise and knowledge of the region. The gallery’s close ties to the region culminated in 2015 with the inauguration of a private sculpture park at the Domaine du Muy. Throughout the summer, visitors can enjoy a programme of films, conferences, and guided tours by experts around the exhibition. A catalogue on Niki de Saint Phalle will be published by Galerie Mitterrand especially for the occasion. This exhibition is organized by Galerie Mitterrand and made possible thanks to loans from the Niki Charitable Art Foundation and the generous support of our partners. 79 RUE DU TEMPLE 75003 PARIS - T +33 1 43 26 12 05 F +33 1 46 33 44 83 [email protected] WWW.GALERIEMITTERRAND.COM THE ARTWORKS ON DISPLAY AND THEIR LOCATION PLACE DE LA GARONNE : LES TOTEMS Niki de Saint Phalle Bird Head Totem, 2000 H 335 x 213 x 140 cm / H 132 x 84 x 55 in Large Yelling Man Totem, 2000 H 505 x 150 x 150 cm / H 199 x 59 x 59 inches Kingfisher Totem, 2000 H 307.3 x 137.2 x 127 cm / H 121 x 54 x 50 inches SÉNÉQUIER : CAT HEAD TOTEM Niki de Saint Phalle Cat Head Totem, 2000 H 335 x 213 x 140 cm / H 132 x 84 x 55 inches PARVIS DU MUSÉE DE l’ANNONCIADE : LES TROIS GRÂCES Niki de Saint Phalle Les Trois Grâces, 1995-2003 Dimensions variables / Variable dimensions Mosaïque de céramique et verre sur polyuréthane, millefiori, socle métal Ceramic and glass mosaic over polyurethane core, millefiori glass inserts, metal base PORT, À LA PLACE DE L’ANCIEN PHARE : LES BAIGNEURS Niki de Saint Phalle Les Baigneurs, circa 1983 Polyester, polyurethane paint H 300 x 300 x 300 cm / H 118 x 118 x 118 inches Edition of 2 + 1 EA JARDINS CHANEL : CLARICE AGAIN Niki de Saint Phalle Clarice Again, 1966-1967 Polyester peint / Painted polyester H 190 x 140 x 125 cm / H 74.8 x 55 x 49 inches Unique NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE Niki de Saint Phalle was born in 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and died in 2002 in California, United States. Niki de Saint Phalle is a Franco-American artist who began her career as a painter in 1950. Her work quickly moved towards assemblages, reliefs and sculpture. In 1961, she became a member of the Nouveaux Réalistes [New Realists] group alongside other key figures or signatories such as Pierre Restany, Yves Klein, Arman, Jean Tinguely, Daniel Spoerri, Mimmo Rotella, etc. The group advocated the direct appropriation of reality. Restany spoke of a ‘poetic recycling of urban, industrial and advertising reality’ (60/90. Trente ans de Nouveau Réalisme. La Différence, 1990, p. 76). Niki de Saint Phalle’s work has evolved over the years and may now be divided into three distinct periods. Tirs [Shooting pictures] from the early 1960s consisted of performances during which the artist and spectators shot with a rifle at assemblages of found objects and paint-filled polythene bags covered in plaster. From 1965 onward, appeared the round, voluptuous and sensual sculptures the artist called Nanas. Then her art moved to exterior spaces with her large, bright and colourful sculptures. Some of these monumental pieces were created in collaboration with Jean Tinguely. Examples of the artist’s exterior art include Le Cyclop [The Cyclops] in Milly-la-Forêt in 1969, La Fontaine Stravinsky [The Stravinsky Fountain] next to the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1983 and the masterpiece to which she devoted the last twenty years of her life: Il Giardino dei Tarocchi [The Tarot Garden] in southern Tuscany (Italy), inaugurated in 1998. A large retrospective of her work was held at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2014 as well as at the Guggenheim Bilbao in 2016. LA GALERIE MITTERRAND Galerie Mitterrand (previously known as JGM Galerie) was founded in 1988 by Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand and encompasses two large spaces (approximately 400m2) in a privately-owned townhouse in Paris’ Marais district. For almost 30 years, it has predominantly showcased sculpture. Today, this special affinity for sculpture leads to exhibitions of works by established artists such as Niki de Saint Phalle, les Lalanne, Keith Sonnier, Peter Kogler, Tony Oursler, Allan McCollum, and as well as by young, emerging artists such as the Chapuisat brothers, Mark Handforth, Gary Webb, Rachel Feinstein. Over the years, Galerie Mitterrand has indeed developed profound expertise in the field of monumental sculpture. This has been manifested around the world through exhibitions in public spaces, and occasionally in museums. It is for this reason that the gallery was called upon by the Universal Exhibition of Shanghai in 2010, the City of Luxembourg in 2007, and the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan in 1988 to organize group exhibitions (Dubuffet, Takis, Soto, César…) and solo shows (Keith Haring). For more information: www.galeriemitterrand.com 79 RUE DU TEMPLE 75003 PARIS - T +33 (0)1 43 26 12 05 F +33 (0)1 46 33 44 83 [email protected] WWW.GALERIEMITTERRAND.COM LE DOMAINE DU MUY For nearly 30 years, Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand has given pride of place to sculpture in his gallery in the Marais in Paris, just as he has in numerous exhibitions of monumental works of art in public and private spaces throughout the world. In 2014, Mitterrand and his son Edward dreamed of creating an outdoor sculpture exhibition space. One year later, the Domaine du Muy opened with an art trail of some forty works by contemporary artists from a host of different generations, movements, and schools of practice. The park itself lives and evolves through the regular renewal or continuity of its works and projects, some created specifically at the Domaine du Muy. Situated between Monaco, Marseille, and Aix-en-Provence, near St-Tropez and Nice, the Domaine du Muy is nestled between the Maures and Esterel Massifs. The Esterel’s Mediterranean forest of cork oaks and pines stretches out over several hundred hectares. With its secluded valley, pools, and wild spaces, the Domaine du Muy sets the works in a space of exceptional natural beauty for their presentation each year in the summer. With the Domaine du Muy, a sculpture park of more than ten hectares in the south of France, created with the collaboration of India Mahdavi (architect) and Louis Benech (landscaper), Galerie Mitterrand lays the first stone of a private place in France, surrounded by nature, dedicated to contemporary international sculpture. The inaugural exhibition was curated by Simon Lamunière who was in charge of Art Basel Unlimited until 2012. For more information: www.domainedumuy.com Press contact: Alice Pointet – Galerie Mitterrand - 79 rue du Temple - 75003 Paris T 33 1 43 26 26 32 - F 33 1 46 33 44 83 - [email protected] 79 RUE DU TEMPLE 75003 PARIS - T +33 (0)1 43 26 12 05 F +33 (0)1 46 33 44 83 [email protected] WWW.GALERIEMITTERRAND.COM .