PLAZA GALLERY
Nothing More Shocking than Joy: Niki de Saint Phalle from the Collection
Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002) was a visionary French-American artist whose work defies easy categorization. She began her career in the late 1950s, and over the following forty years became widely acclaimed for her vibrant and playfully subversive art practice. In 1964, she began her series of “Nanas” (French slang for “girls”)—life-size sculptures that celebrate the female form and embody Saint Phalle’s assertion that “there is nothing more shocking than joy.”
As in Vive moi (Long Live Me) (1968) in the Bechtler Museum’s permanent collection, the Nanas are brightly colored and patterned sculptures of voluptuous, exuberant women that represent female empowerment. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Saint Phalle’s work began increasing in scale, resulting in towering monumental sculptures such as Le grand oiseau de feu sur l’arche (The Large Firebird on the Arch) (1991). Standing over 17 feet tall and adorned with thousands of mirrored tiles, the work is inspired by the Slavic fairytale of the magical firebird, which symbolizes beauty, resilience, and liberation. With its joyfully outspread wings, Saint Phalle’s The Firebird has welcomed visitors to the Bechtler since the museum opened in 2010, and its dazzling presence has become a beloved Charlotte landmark.
This installation showcases works by Saint Phalle from the Bechtler’s permanent collection in honor of the museum’s 15th anniversary.
ATRIUM
Wall Drawing #995: Color Geometric Form (Outline)
Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #995: Color Geometric Form (Outline) (2001) is prominently displayed in the museum’s soaring multi-story foyer and is visible from the street.
LeWitt (1928–2007) was a pioneering Minimalist artist and a founder of the Conceptual art movement. In the late 1960s he expanded the definition of what art could be with his radical assertion that the idea is the most important part of a work, thus privileging the concept over its physical form. Begun in 1968, LeWitt’s wall drawings exemplify this approach to artmaking: for these works, he provided a set of instructions or diagrams to draftspeople who execute the piece. LeWitt likened his role to that of a composer who creates a score that can be performed by others for generations to come.
Painted directly on the museum’s large atrium wall, Wall Drawing #995 took a team of eight people eleven days to complete. To create the geometric shapes that comprise the composition, LeWitt used isometric projection—a method of depicting three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional surface. Painted in primary and secondary hues, the bright bars appear to pop out from the background, simultaneously producing a dynamic effect while demonstrating LeWitt’s focus on essential colors and forms. Wall Drawing #995 was the first work installed in the museum. It is on long-term loan courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt.
THE FIREBIRD
Le grand oiseau de feu sur l’arche (The Large Firebird on the Arch)
Niki de Saint Phalle
From the outset of her career in the late 1950s, Niki de Saint Phalle’s work defied easy categorization. She employed a wide range of materials and techniques, and her practice is best characterized by an interdisciplinary, socially activist, and playfully subversive approach to artmaking. From the mid-1960s onwards, Saint Phalle’s creative output became increasingly vibrant, feminist, fantastical, and monumental. Le grande oiseau de feu sur l’arche (1991)—known locally as The Firebird—is emblematic of such work. Standing over 17 feet tall and covered with thousands of mirrored tiles, the inspiration for the radiant sculpture is the Slavic fairytale of the same name, in which the magical firebird symbolizes beauty, resilience in the face of adversity, and liberation. Saint Phalle’s towering Firebird, with its wings joyfully outspread, greets visitors to the Bechtler Museum at the corner of Levine Avenue of the Arts and South Tryon Street. Installed in 2009, it has become a beloved public landmark of Uptown Charlotte.