Gwendolyn 1966 / 1992

Gwendolyn

Like all Nanas by Niki de Saint Phalle, Gwendolyn is a life-affirming, powerful representation of the female body. Created in 1992, the artwork was commissioned by Paul Sacher for the Roche-affiliated Institute of Immunology, where it stood until the Institute closed in 2001. Based on an earlier Gwendolyn figure dated 1966, the fiberglass-reinforced plastic sculpture demonstrates an exceptionally free and idiosyncratic interpretation of body proportions and anatomy. Its expressive coloration is equally striking: entirely independent of anatomical replication, the great richness of colors and forms plays a key role in the uniqueness of Gwendolyn.

Niki de Saint Phalle

Niki de Saint Phalle (*1930 Neuilly-sur-Seine–2002 San Diego) gained recognition in the early 1960s with shooting paintings in which she fired a rifle at paint-filled containers causing the paint to splatter. As acknowledgement, she became a–and remained the only woman–member of the Parisian Nouveaux Réalistes. As of 1965, Nanas emerged—female figures made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic with rounded, imposing, and often oversized proportions, painted mostly in unmixed, vibrant colors. Best-known is the reclining monumental sculpture Hon, completed in 1966 by Saint Phalle with Jean Tinguely and Per Olof Ultvedt for the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. With a bar and cinema inside, visitors could enter the sculpture between its legs. In 1971 she and Tinguely married. Together they realized further works such as Stravinsky Fountain (1983) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

Title: Gwendolyn
Date made: 1966
Artist: Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 – 2002)
Materials: Fiber-reinforced plastic, paint, and metal structure
Dimensions: 247 × 199 × 96 cm
Location: Solitude Park / Museum Tinguely / Basel
Mode of acquisition: Direct commission for the exterior of the Basel Institute for Immunology
Collection: F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG