''Nana on a Dolphin'' is a public artwork by French sculptor

Niki de Saint Phalle Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monume ...

. ''Nana on a Dolphin'' is part of the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

New York Avenue Sculpture Project and has also been on display at the home of Nicole Salinger in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, France.

Description

In the style of de Saint Phalle's work, ''Nana on a Dolphin'' depicts one of her signature Nanas standing on the back of a brilliantly colored dolphin. The dolphin is covered in bright colored mosaic tiles with a slight grin to its lip line. Just in front of the dolphin's top fin stands Nana, balanced on her left foot with her right foot kicked behind her. Her faceless head and body are orange and she wears a silver bathing suit with de Saint Phalle's signature heart on the proper left breast and black tile on the proper right. In her right hand she holds a red ball and her left hand is thrown behind her back. The statue stands on a steel pole which is bolted into a concrete block.

New York Avenue Sculpture Project

''Nana on a Dolphin'' is one of the many sculptures being installed for the Project by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. By 2015 a selection of sculptures will be installed along New York Avenue from 13th Street to 9th Street, in the heart of

Mount Vernon Square Mount Vernon Square is a city square and neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The square is located where the following streets would otherwise intersect: Massachusetts Avenue NW, New York Avenue NW, K Street NW, and 8th ...

. The museums efforts are in part to bring "character" to an area where "there is a lot of good stuff going on," due to revitalization programs in the neighborhood. de Saint Phalle's works, four in total, are the first in a series of installations. The museums installation of de Saint Phalle's iconic pop art works are meant to be contrasting to the traditional sculpture that graces the streets and squares of Washington. These works will remain up for one year, before being returned to the artists foundation.

Installation

The artwork was installed mid-April 2010, being delivered to its placement location by way of a flat-bed semi-truck in crates. Each piece was removed and placed by way of a crane.

Dedication

''Nana on a Dolphin'', along with the other de Saint Phalle sculptures in the project, were dedicated at 1:30 p.m. on April 28, 2010., with an evening reception within the museum.

Jill Biden Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden (born June 3, 1951) is an American educator and the current first lady of the United States since 2021, as the wife of President Joe Biden. She was the second lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 when her hus ...

Eleanor Holmes Norton Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a delegate to the United States House of Representatives, representing the District of Columbia since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Ea ...

, Jack Evans, National Museum of Women in the Arts founder

Wilhelmina Holladay Wilhelmina Cole Holladay (née Cole; October 10, 1922 – March 6, 2021) was an American art collector and patron. She was the co-founder of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2006. Early lif ...

and de Saint Phalle's granddaughter Bloum Cardenas, along with members of the D.C. BID,

District of Columbia Department of Transportation The District Department of Transportation (DDOT, stylized as d.) is an agency of the government of the District of Columbia, in the United States, which manages and maintains publicly owned transportation infrastructure in the District of Columbi ...

, D.C. Office of the Planning, among others, attended the ribbon cutting.

Conservation

The entire selection of de Saint Phalle's works are removed during the winter for conservation purposes, only to reappear in the Spring.

Reception

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' art critic

Blake Gopnik Blake Gopnik (born 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American art critic who has lived in New York City since 2011. He previously spent a decade as chief art critic of ''The Washington Post'', prior to which he was an arts editor and crit ...

stated that the pieces are "less weighty than what we hope to find inside our museums." Glopnik believed the pieces were nothing like the Picasso or

van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

works that are often expected. "They are probably best enjoyed at a nice downtown clip of 15 or 20 mph." Gopnik also touches on the idea of the works being from a woman-based museum: "Wouldn't you imagine that when a women's museum makes its most public statement yet, it would avoid any hint of decor or fluff?" Describing de Saint Phalle's works as "scary and aggressive" versus what others often describe as jubilant and goofy. Overall, he describes the works as

plop art Plop art (or plonk art) is a pejorative slang term for public art (usually large, abstract, modernist or contemporary sculpture) made for government or corporate plazas, spaces in front of office buildings, skyscraper atriums, parks, and other pub ...

References

External links

Niki Charitable Art Foundation, de Saint Phalle's foundation
{{Public art in Washington, D.C. 1999 sculptures Outdoor sculptures in Washington, D.C. Fiberglass sculptures in Washington, D.C. Sculptures of dolphins Animal sculptures in Washington, D.C.