3. 3AR NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE (1930-2002) Dominique (leg in the air) 1966 paint, fabric, glue and wire mesh mounted on a metal base paint, fabric, glue and wire mesh mounted on metal base 116 x 113 x 52 cm. 45 11/16 x 44 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. Height with base: 130 cm. Height with base: 51 3/16 in. Made in 1966, this work is unique. We would like to thank the Niki Charitable Art Foundation for the information they kindly provided about this work. Provenance Guy Pieters Gallery, Belgium Acquired from the gallery by the current owner in 1995 Niki de Saint Phalle's art is first and foremost the plastic transcription of the non-conformism of a committed woman. Promised a caricatured life as a woman of her time, Niki de Saint Phalle never ceased to free herself from the shackles dictated by society, both in her life and in her art. The genesis of Niki de Saint Phalle's art is artistic creation as therapy; it becomes cathartic, she would say of art that it allowed her to calm the chaos that agitated her soul and to provide an organic structure to her life. This self-taught artist, who drew her influences from the creations of Antonio Gaudi, Jackson Pollock and Le facteur Cheval, was the only woman to join the historic New Realists group. She exhibited alongside them at the "Comparaisons: peintures-sculptures" exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1961. That same year, she began the series of tirs, which would make her world-famous. Affixed to wooden planks, Niki de Saint Phalle glued, interleaved and entangled manufactured elements in pockets of paint. She covered the whole thing in plaster, painting it white, before firing a rifle at it to spray it with colour. This novel creative technique allows the artist to shake up the established order and artistic conventions. The lion's heart we are presenting echoes the iconic shooting series, but here we are in the joyful iconography of childhood, where the animal figures mixed with flowers and shoelaces are marred by red paint, evoking, but not highlighting, the artist's tormented childhood. This key work was notably presented at the exhibition Niki de Saint Phalle: Vive moi at the gallery of Alexandre Iolas in New York in 1965. From 1964 onwards, Niki de Saint Phalle began to create her famous Nanas, which brought her international recognition. Thanks to the Nanas, these sculptures of round, jovial, dancing women, the artist, free and ahead of her time, questioned the place of women at every important moment in her life. Dominique (jambe en l'air), which we are offering at this sale, was one of the first sculptures made by the artist. Niki de Saint Phalle modelled a wire structure, applied papier-mâché, painted over it and applied resin. Our sculpture, with its shimmering colours, casual gestures and generous forms, sums up the idea of "nanas", the antithesis of the woman-object, but in the image of the artist, liberated and non-conformist. Niki de Saint Phalle's protean work left a profound mark on twentieth-century artistic creation, and has been exhibited in major international museums such as the Centre Pompidou, where a retrospective was devoted to her in 1980, as well as in 2021 at the MoMA in New York for the exhibition Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for life. The art of Niki de Saint Phalle is first and foremost an artistic representation of her commitment as a woman to non-conformism. Destined for the artificial life of a woman of her generation, Niki de Saint Phalle consistently rejected the rules dictated by society, whether in her life or in her art. The genesis of Niki de Saint Phalle's art was therapy through the creative process which became cathartic. She would say of art that it allowed her to calm the chaos that agitated her soul and to provide an organic structure to her life. The self-taught artist, who drew her influences from the creations of Antonio Gaudi, Jackson Pollock and Le Facteur Cheval, was the only woman to join the historic New Realist group. She exhibited alongside them at the exhibition "Comparaisons: peintures-sculptures" at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1961. That same year, she began the Tirs series, which would earn her global recognition. Affixed to wooden planks, Niki de Saint Phalle glued interleaved and tangled manufactured elements among bags of paint. She covered the assemblage with plaster, painted it white, then took a rifle and shot at it thus bursting the pockets of colour. The artist's innovative creative technique aimed at disrupting the established order of artistic conventions. The Coeur de Lion we are presenting echoes the iconic Tirs series, here we are in the joyful iconography of childhood, where animal figures mixed with flowers and shoelaces are marred by red paint, evoking, without any clarification, the artist's tormented childhood. This key work was presented in 1965, at the Niki de Saint Phalle: Vive moi exhibition at the Alexandre Iolas Gallery in New York. In 1964, Niki de Saint Phalle began creating her notorious Nanas, which brought her international recognition. Thanks to the Nanas-her brightly coloured sculptures of round, jovial, dancing women- the artist, a free-spirited trailblazer, questioned the position of women at that time at each important moment of their lives. Dominique (jambe en l'air) on offer in this sale is one of the artist's earliest works. Niki de Saint Phalle modelled a wire structure, applied papier-mâché, painted over it and covered the result in resin. Our sculpture, with its vivid colours, bold attitudes and generous forms, sums up the idea of "nanas", the opposite of the trophy wife, a reflection of the artist: independent and free-wheeling. Niki de Saint Phalle's diverse Oeuvre made a permanent mark on the art scene of the twentieth century, and has been exhibited in major international museums such as the Centre Pompidou, where a retrospective was devoted to her in 1980, as well as in 2021 at MoMA in New York for the exhibition Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for life.