Back in the 1960's, I took photos of a young Niki de St. Phalle for a Danish paper. The place was
Arthur Köbcke's famous Fluxus gallery in Copenhagen and Niki had build up a whole gallery wall in
plaster. At the opening of the exhibition, she shot with a gun at the wall, and paint in many bright
colors flowed all over from plastic bags, build into the plaster. At that time I had not even heard
the word "tarot" and most likely she had not either. Niki became a famous artist, and the bright
colors are still one of her characteristics. They are in her paintings and they shine on her long
series of Nana sculptures, including the monumental "She" sculpture, a female dome raised at the
Moderna Museum in Stockholm in 1966.
At one time in her life, probably in the 1970's, Niki de St. Phalle met tarot and, of course, she had
to use this artistically. Not in the way so many other artists would have done by creating a series of
prints, paintings or even a tarot deck, but to express herself in her typical style and medium. In
1979 she started to build her sculpture park or "Tarot Garden" in Tuscany, Italy with the 22 Tarot
images rendered as huge three-dimensional sculptures. She worked on this project for several years
and for a period she even had her living quarters inside the huge "Empress".
Sooner or later Niki's tarot images had to be transformed into a proper tarot deck, which could be held
in hands, looked at, arranged in different ways. That has happened now. Luckily the "Niki de Saint Phalle
Tarot Cards", are as the set is named, not just a photographic rendition of the Tarot Garden sculptures.
The sculptures live by themselves in their three-dimensionality and a two-dimensional rendition would
never reflect their grandiosity. Instead we have here Niki's interpretation of her images, created
especially for the print medium in a no less than 15 color silk-screen print. The 22 + 2 title cards are
large, 140 x 80 millimeters, printed on a high quality white card board. The heavy layer of colors can be
felt like an embossment, it is actually possible to feel in which order the 15 colors were printed. The
set comes in a heavy two-part box, including also a small booklet with Niki's calligraphed text in English,
French, Italian and German. The publisher is listed as "Productions Flammarion 4", who also made the images
available as a printed sheet.
Back in the 1960's, I took photos of a young Niki de St. Phalle for a Danish paper. The place was
Arthur Köbcke's famous Fluxus gallery in Copenhagen and Niki had build up a whole gallery wall in
plaster. At the opening of the exhibition, she shot with a gun at the wall, and paint in many bright
colors flowed all over from plastic bags, build into the plaster. At that time I had not even heard
the word "tarot" and most likely she had not either. Niki became a famous artist, and the bright
colors are still one of her characteristics. They are in her paintings and they shine on her long
series of Nana sculptures, including the monumental "She" sculpture, a female dome raised at the
Moderna Museum in Stockholm in 1966.
At one time in her life, probably in the 1970's, Niki de St. Phalle met tarot and, of course, she had
to use this artistically. Not in the way so many other artists would have done by creating a series of
prints, paintings or even a tarot deck, but to express herself in her typical style and medium. In
1979 she started to build her sculpture park or "Tarot Garden" in Tuscany, Italy with the 22 Tarot
images rendered as huge three-dimensional sculptures. She worked on this project for several years
and for a period she even had her living quarters inside the huge "Empress".
Sooner or later Niki's tarot images had to be transformed into a proper tarot deck, which could be held
in hands, looked at, arranged in different ways. That has happened now. Luckily the "Niki de Saint Phalle
Tarot Cards", are as the set is named, not just a photographic rendition of the Tarot Garden sculptures.
The sculptures live by themselves in their three-dimensionality and a two-dimensional rendition would
never reflect their grandiosity. Instead we have here Niki's interpretation of her images, created
especially for the print medium in a no less than 15 color silk-screen print. The 22 + 2 title cards are
large, 140 x 80 millimeters, printed on a high quality white card board. The heavy layer of colors can be
felt like an embossment, it is actually possible to feel in which order the 15 colors were printed. The
set comes in a heavy two-part box, including also a small booklet with Niki's calligraphed text in English,
French, Italian and German. The publisher is listed as "Productions Flammarion 4", who also made the images
available as a printed sheet.