Details

Object type

sculpture

Title

Vache Vase

Artist/Maker

Niki de Saint Phalle artist

Date

1992

Materials

polyester, gloss acrylic, varnish, paint, iron

Dimensions

overall: 533 mm x 560 mm x 216 mm

Description

Sculpture entitled ‘Vache Vase’ by Niki de Saint Phalle, 1992. Painted polyester, with gloss acrylic, varnish and iron base. Depicts a cow, white with colourful designs on one side and black with white designs on the other side. The depression in the spine contains a removable container to hold water for the flowers. It has black horns and feet of black iron (one in front, two at the back).

This work plays on the English word ‘vase’ and the French word ‘vache’ meaning cow connecting to Saint Phalle’s French-American heritage. A duality of light and dark, which often appears in de Saint Phalle’s work, can be seen in the two sides of this work. The sculpture also functions as a working vase via a removable section in the cow’s back. Thus this duality in the work also extends to its use, as a vase or as a museum artwork.

Born Catherine Marie-Agnés Fal de Saint Phalle in 1930 to a French father and American mother, the artist grew up near Paris, before moving to the suburbs of New York in 1937. De Saint Phalle’s work often engages with themes of femininity and her past traumas and how art has helped her heal from them. As she has said in numerous interviews, art functioned as a way to work through the past and perforates much of her work. Sculpture was the primary medium across Saint Phalle’s work and connects to her ideas about womanhood, the body and trauma. Her dedication to this medium is what led to her eventual death in 2002, due to complications stemming from her inhalation of fumes associated with the materials used in her sculptures.

Saint Phalle’s distinctive style is evident across the rest of her work in Glasgow Museums’ collection, seen in works such as her inflatable nanas, wallpaper and sculptures. Her legacy speaks to the power of overcoming your past and the persistence and artistic importance of women artists in the 20th century and asserts Saint Phalle’s place as an influential artist of her time.

Credit Line/Donor

Donated by Eric and Jean Cass, 2012

ID Number

S.465

Location

Gallery of Modern Art Gallery 4