I was familiar of Sonia Delaunays work for a while and always admired the vibrant hues of colour, abstraction and the sense of modernity in her work, and so when I found out there was going to be retrospective of her work at the Tate modern I was quick to go and visit.
Who is Sonia Delaunay?
Sonia Delaunay was a French painter and designer who pioneered abstract art, celebrating the modern world of movement, technology and urban life. While some may only recognise her work by the use of geometric shapes on a canvas, she really spanned a much wider variety of creativity such as textiles, fashion, furniture, set design, architecture and advertising. Her marriage with Robert Delaunay, an ambitious artist of the Parisian Avant-garde, came around from a mutual inspiration to colourful compositions. Both artists dealt with the depiction of light and movement and together they found a new theory known as Simultaneism which is the juxtaposition of dynamically contrasting colours and shapes for maximum impact.
The exhibition features early paintings which show the influence of Paul Gauguin and the De Bruke group, as well as textiles and clothes that she had made, and the collaborations with poets, choreographers and manufacturers. Although some of the work may seem repetitive, it was great to see how she used her talent in a range of different fields. She is shown not just as an artist but also as a businesswoman, as she established her name as a brand and opened her own fashion house. It is clear that she was definitely ahead of her time.
- Simultaneous Dresses, aka The Three Women (1925)
- Coat made for film star Gloria Swanson, 1923-24.
- Detail of Electric Prisms no. 41, 1913-14.
0 comments:
Post a Comment