Sonia Delaunay a D a M G a L L E R Y

Sonia Delaunay a d a m g a l l e r y

Sonia Delaunay

24 CORK STREET LONDON W1S 3NJ t: 0207 439 6633

e: [email protected] www.adamgallery.com Sonia in her studio 1923 onia Delaunay was at the forefront of cultural developments in s Europe throughout the ﬁrst half of the twentieth century. Born in the Ukraine in 1885, she grew up in St Petersburg and studied at the academy of ﬁne arts in Karlsruhe, Germany. In 1905 she moved to Paris, thought by many to be the centre of the art world at that time, and she was based there for the rest of her life. Associates there were Van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin, as well as Matisse, Derain, Braque, Vlaminck and Dufy. She met her husband, Robert Delaunay, in 1909, and they were to live and work together for more than thirty years. Their close circle in Paris included many talented people such as the poets Apollinaire and Cenrars, and later Tzara, Andre Breton, Hans Arp and Marc Chagall.

Sonia Delaunay’s instinctive sense of colour can be traced back to her childhood in Russia – the primary colours of the peasant costumes and fairs she would have seen. In Paris, she gradually introduced an element of ‘geometrization’ and ‘simultaneous contrast’ in to her work, broke with perspective and naturalism and introduced complete abstraction. She often worked with applied or decorative art, famously producing a ‘Cubist’ quilt for her baby son after his birth in 1911 (now at the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris) as well as collages, bookbindings, boxes, cushions, fabrics, lampshades, dresses, furniture and set design.

Adam Gallery is proud to present a selection of lithographs and gouaches by Sonia Delaunay, mainly from the 1960s and 70s, when she was at the height of her career. From the 1950s, Delaunay began to focus on painting, and produced gouaches on paper that she called ‘Rhythme Colore’, indicating the importance that ‘the inﬁnite combinations of colour’ have always had on her work. Her reputation was cemented with a full-scale retrospective at the Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1967. In 1969 she was awarded the International Grand Prize for Women Artists by the Salon International de la Femme, Cannes and in 1975 she received the highest cultural accolade possible in France: the Legion d’honneur. Her work can be found in numerous public and private collections including the Tate, London, Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Louvre and Centre Pompidou, Paris. 1. Rhythme Icon Gouache, watercolour and pencil 1971 Signed by the artist lower right Inscribed F.1831 lower left Image 16” x 10 1/2”

Provenance: A gift from the artist to a collector in New York

2. Cercles Verts Gouache on paper c. 1959 Signed. Numbered verso 646 7 1/2 x 8 1/2”

3. Carré Noir Lithograph in colours c. 1970 Signed in pencil and numbered 9/100 I. 21” x 15” S. 25 3/4” x 20” 4. Triangles Lithograph 1970 Signed in pencil and numbered 7/125 I: 18 3/4” x 27 1/2” S. 21 3/4” x 29 1/2” 5. Rectangle Rouge Lithograph in colours 1971 Signed in pencil and inscribed H.C. VI I. 22 1/2” x 17 1/2” S. 30” x 22 1/4”, 6. Untitled (Composition) Etching in colours 1969 Signed and dated in pencil and numbered 30/100 P. 21 1/2” x 16 1/2” S. 30” x 22 1/2” 7. Untitled (Composition) Lithograph in colours 1971 Signed in pencil and inscribed ‘H.C. 13/25’ I. 17 7/8” x 18” S. 29 3/8” x 21 7/8” 8. Untitled (Grande Composition) Etching and aquatint printed in colours c. 1970 Signed in pencil and numbered 74/150 P. 27 1/4” x 19 5/8” S. 35 3/4” x 25” 9. Oriﬂammes Lithograph in colours 1971 Signed in pencil and numbered 69/85 I. 29 7/8” x 20 3/4” S. 35 1/2” x 25” 10. Rose des Vents Lithograph in colours 1972 Signed in pencil and numbered 48/75 I. 23” x 19” S. 30” x 22” 11. Untitled (Composition) Lithograph in colours c.1970 Signed in pencil and numbered HC 10 I. 29 3/4” x 21 3/4” S. 35 3/4” x 24 7/8” 12. Untitled (Composition) Lithograph Signed in pencil and numbered 12/75 I. 19” x 16 1/2” S. 30” x 20” 13. Untitled (Composition) Etching in colours 1970 Signed and dated in pencil and numbered 23/75 P. 19 1/2” x 16” S.26” x 19 3/4” 14. Ballons Jaunes Lithograph in colours c.1965 Signed in pencil and inscribed HC V/XX I.25” x 19” S. 30” x 22” 15. -Thunderbird Lithograph in colours 1973 Signed and dated in pencil and numbered 62/75 l. 20 3/4” x 16 1/2” S. 29 3/4” x 22” a d a m g a l l e r y