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Artworks
Niki de Saint Phalle France, 1930-2002
Oiseau, 1972Acrylic and wax crayon on plaster7.6 by 15 by 6 cm (3 by 5⅞ by 2⅜ in.)Signed 'Niki de Saint Phalle' (on the underside of the right wing)66664© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris$35,000Further images
Executed in 1972, this work is unique. Composed of organic shapes painted in vivid chromatic hues, Oiseau depicts a bird, wings outstretched in preparation for flight. The present work is...Executed in 1972, this work is unique. Composed of organic shapes painted in vivid chromatic hues, Oiseau depicts a bird, wings outstretched in preparation for flight. The present work is a tabletop iteration of a recurring theme in Niki de Saint Phalle’s body of work, which notably includes birds and other animals as well as female figures. A visionary feminist and committed activist, Niki de Saint Phalle held a deeply personal belief that art was meant to critique the world around us. In the present work, de Saint Phalle transformed the natural form of the bird into a whimsical, bright biomorph, thus rebelling against the boundaries of lived experience.Provenance
Private Collection, Milan (sale: Jeschke van Vliet Auctions Berlin GmbH Berlin, November 16, 2012, lot 352)
Private Collection
Exhibitions
Belfast, The Mac; Dundee, Scotland, Dundee Contemporary Arts, and Bury, England, Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre, Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness, 2017-18, illustrated in color. p. 53
