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| Sonia Delaunay, Prismes electriques (1914) |
So last week, I mentioned that I've been in a Sonia Delauney mood. Now, I know Susan Lenz is right and I should be worrying about being in a "Nina-Marie Mood", but lately Sonia's work seems more interesting than my own. And why wouldn't it be?? I mean, gosh, she co-founded "Orphism",a style of art that is characterized by strong colors and geometric shapes. But she was much more than bold colors!
Fun Facts You Didn't Know about Sonia Delauney
- By the time she was 18, she spoke and read Russian, French, German and English
- Her birth name was Sarah Stern.
- She credited a quilt she made for her baby son as the inspiration
for orphism: "About 1911, I had the idea of making for Charles, who had
just been born, a blanket composed of bits of fabric like those I had
seen in the houses of Russian peasants. When it was finished, the
arrangement of the pieces of material seemed to me to evoke cubist
conceptions and we then tried to apply the same process to other objects
and paintings"
Market at Minoh, 1915 - Robert Delauney was NOT her first husband. She was married two years to a homosexual German Art Gallery owner she befriended in Paris. She divorced him once she met, Delaney since - well - the heart wants what the heart wants!
- She was a fabric designer who advocated strongly through public lectures for change in women's clothing freeing them from corsets and couture that bogged down fashion of the era.
- She was the first living female artist to have a retrospective at the Louvre. It took place in 1964 and consisted of 117 works that she personally selected and donated to the museum.
- She did not paint for 10 years after the death of her beloved husband.
I don't know about you, but I love strong multifaceted women. It truly is a man's world - even today and to survive you have to be strong, innovative and bold. The more I learn about Sonia, the more I think she was exactly that!
So What Have You Been Doing Creatively?
6 comments:
she was fascinating. I've not heard of her, and love love what she painted. Thank you for introducing her to me.
I've not heard of her, either. Thank you so much for sharing about this strong woman!
Okay so I am not the only one that does not know art history I see-I did not know her either but WOW! Thank you for enlightening me, fascinating woman.
I realized about 15 years ago that there was a whole history of art that I had no idea about. So since then I've been playing catch up. Its totally enriched my life and I've found women like Sonia who are simply amazing! So I thought every now and again I would blog about Art History in a way that fun and approachable. So glad you all like it!
Thanks for the "shout out" on this blog post ... and, yes, I think you ought to strive to be in a "Nina-Marie mood" because YOU DESERVE IT ... and only Nina-Marie can make an original Nina-Marie ... but I'm still flattered that you even thought of me! I would have commented and posted earlier but today's been a bit odd. Why? Well, my solo installation is located in Beaufort, SC ... literally across the street from a wide marsh leading to the ocean and in the direct path forecast for Hurricane Hermine. While installing yesterday, word came that the university canceled all classes today in anticipation of flooding. Fortunately, today brought a down-grade to a tropical storm and Beaufort amazingly seemed to escape the worst of it. Columbia, on the other hand, has had strong wind and rain all day. We lost power early in the afternoon. (Steve and I went to our favorite, independent movie house since they had power.) Power was restored earlier in the evening ... thank goodness ... which allowed me to link to you. I'm hoping to receive an email with a report from the gallery in the morning! Fingers are crossed that my show is still in tact! Susan
Hi, Nina-Marie. Enjoyed the post--you pointed out a couple of juicy details I was unaware of. I saw some of Sonia's work in May in Paris, which was so refreshing.
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