Niki de Saint Phalle Monograph, hardback published by Benteli Verlag. ISBN 978-3716512583, price 76.68 available from www.benteli.ch
This is an immense volume cataloguing the works of the Franco-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle. It includes her paintings, tirs and assemblages from 1949-2000. It is written in French, German and English. It is interesting to see the progression of her art from the early paintings, through the shoo
ting paintings, which forma large section of the book and collages to beginning of Nana power and some of the sculptures. On balance I believe there is more precedence given to paintings than sculpture in this book, I would have preferred it the other way around. The text is interesting but not ultimately engaging. It talks of the influences and reasons, both personal and political as to why she did what she did. The biography is very well done. This is clearly a good homage to Niki, including so much of her work up to 2000. If you are a huge fan, this is a book you will enjoy. If you only like the sculptures, then wait for a book on that subject alone.