Niki de Saint Phalle
| Niki de Saint Phalle | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Catherine-Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle 29 October 1930 Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France |
| Died | 21 May 2002 (aged 71) San Diego, California, United States |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Painting, sculpture, filmmaking |
| Awards | Praemium Imperiale |
Niki de Saint Phalle (born Catherine-Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle, 29 October 1930 – 21 May 2002) was a French sculptor, painter, and filmmaker.
Niki de Saint Phalle was born on October 29, 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, near Paris. Her father was Count André-Marie Fal de Saint Phalle (1906–1967), a French banker, and her mother was an American, named Jeanne Jacqueline Harper (1908–1980). She had four siblings, and a double first cousin was French novelist Thérèse de Saint Phalle (Baroness Jehan de Drouas).
After being wiped out financially during the Great Depression, the family moved from France to the United States in 1933, where her father worked as manager of the American branch of the Saint Phalle family's bank. Saint Phalle enrolled at the Brearley School in New York City but was dismissed for painting red fig leaves on the school's statuary.
She went on to attend Oldfields School in Glencoe, Maryland, where she graduated in 1947. During her teenaged years, Saint Phalle was a fashion model; at the age of eighteen, she appeared on the cover of Life (26 September 1949) and, three years later, on the November 1952 cover of French Vogue.
At eighteen, Saint Phalle eloped with author Harry Mathews, whom she had known since the age of eleven through her father, and they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. While her husband studied music at Harvard University, Saint Phalle began to paint, experimenting with different media and styles. Their first child, Laura, was born in April 1951.
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