Les Nanas au Pouvoir (Girls Power), by Niki de Saint Phalle / Château Cramirat Collection
We’re excited to have this first-edition catalog celebrating one of the 20th century’s most original artists, Niki de Saint Phalle, with photographs by our true favorite, Ed van der Elsken.
Saint Phalle was brave and radical. She had to be, she was on a mission to use art to shatter conventional tropes about women, and pioneer a world where feminine fragility is a superpower. She is most known for her monumental Nanas (French for Dame or Chick), which may look like comically jovial women but are far more complex than meets the eye. Like updated versions of prehistoric Venus figurines, Saint Phalle’s 1960s Nanas were symbols of “fertility that is back to conquer the world.”
Self-taught and independent of patronage, Saint Phalle’s artistic language broke the barriers between avant-garde and pop art, and merged art with architecture. She purposefully placed her massive, curvy, vibrantly colored Nanas outside the confines of museums and galleries, in the public sphere, so that these emblems of emancipated women would take up space in the world. At a time when mores dictated a “sanitized” representation of womanhood, Saint Phalles heralded social transformation while emphasizing the important role art plays in instilling new perceptions that heal.
The Château Cramirat Collection is a treasure trove of art and design by philosopher Anna Ravitzki and designer Dan Alexander, housed in a 12th-century Templar landmark in the Valley of Mankind, Périgord, France.
Saint Phalle, Niki de; Elsken, Ed van der, William Klein, et al. (photos). Les Nanas au Pouvoir. 1st Edition. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum, 1967.
