A New Path

The Niki de Saint Phalle Commission for GoMA

Ben Harman, 2010

“As you know, I regard you and Tinguely as the mother and father of modern art since the war. This is not an exaggeration! ...your work springs directly from life into the world of art – it is not a reflection of the art world but really is alive.” (Letter to Niki de Saint Phalle from Julian Spalding, 6^th April, 1993)

In 1993 Julian Spalding, then Director of Glasgow Museums, commissioned Niki de Saint Phalle to create a major new artwork for the City of Glasgow.

His ambition was for her work, alongside that of Jean Tinguely her long-term artistic collaborator, to feature as a major component of the new Gallery of Modern Art.

The artworks subsequently made for the tympanum and entrance room at GoMA are, today, prominent but relatively uncelebrated features of the building. They were completed by Saint Phalle and her studio in time for the opening of GoMA in March 1996 and accompanied by two generous gifts of sculptures for the collection. The significance of this commission has become overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Spalding’s new museum and his critically-challenged ideologies.

He was introduced to Saint Phalle’s work around 1989 by Jean Tinguely who died in 1991 before an exhibition of his work in Glasgow could be realised. Saint Phalle took control of Tinguely’s artistic legacy immediately after his death. She developed a friendship with Spalding that led to the display of her touring retrospective at the McLellan Galleries in 1993. At this time Saint Phalle was ill, suffering from the damaging affects that her studio materials were having on her lungs. Her affection for Spalding is exemplified by his inclusion on her ‘laughter list.’ Established on the recommendation of her doctor, this comprised of a selection of people around the world that she could phone and laugh with.

Saint Phalle’s commission for GoMA was developed with equal affection for the City of Glasgow and the story of St.Mungo that informed the content of the coloured symbols and figures on the building’s tympanum. Her mirrored mosaic pattern was deliberately eye-catching and one of the elements of her work that Spalding hoped would attract visitors into the building:

“It’ll be like a welcoming finger beckoning!” (Letter to Niki de Saint Phalle from Julian Spalding, 27^th January, 1995)

Inside the entrance room Saint Phalle included a coloured, metal light-fitting by Tinguely. This is the only 3-dimensional part of the finished commission despite various plans for moving figures, lights and smoke which became too difficult to achieve. It was never intended for the artworks to be permanent and an important condition of introducing such features to a historic building that they could be dismantled without any change to its appearance. Respectful of the building’s history, Saint Phalle and Spalding were both inspired by recent studies in Europe, such as at the Glypothek in Munich, which proved that antique classical sculptures and buildings were often brightly coloured.

Niki de Saint Phalle died in 2002. Her commissioned work and sculptures within the City of Glasgow’s collection are unique within the UK. They are a reminder of Julian Spalding’s vision as GoMA’s first Director and point towards a re-appraisal of Saint Phalle’s work in future contexts within the City.