by Virginie Chuimer-Layen
Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), Nana Machine, 1976, painted polyester, iron base, electric motor by Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), 44 x 15 x 15 cm/17.32 x 5.90 x 5.90 in. © Niki Charitable Art Foundation, Courtesy Galerie Mitterrand Photo: A. Mole
The exhibition features 17 lithographs—from the Nana Power portfolio (1970)—two large Nana sculptures in the round and a small Nana Machine designed with Jean Tinguely from the collection. The gallery’s joyful, pared-down show features a color scheme that would have met with Saint Phalle’s approval. Standing over two meters, or nearly seven feet, tall, the French-American artist’s Nana statues attest to her obsessive work on the female image. Her moving ogresses and goddesses in psychedelic colors recalling pop culture have become iconic. Here, Nana Boa (1983) has a boa-snake wrapped around her body—a symbol of her father’s sexual abuse—while Le Péril Jaune (The Yellow Peril) from 1968 plays with a ball on the beach. "The peril is the one she and her sisters represent... for the established order," says the gallery’s booklet.
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