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Sonia DelaunayFrench artist of Jewish origin
Date of Birth: 14.11.1885
Country:  France |
Content:
Biography of Sonia Delaunay
Sonia Delaunay was a French Jewish artist of Russian origin. She was born in Russia and in 1890, she moved to Saint Petersburg, where she was raised by her uncle, a successful lawyer named Henri Terk. Although she wanted to be adopted by the Terk family, she was not granted permission by her mother. However, she took on the pseudonym Sonia Terk. The family traveled around Europe, and Sonia had the opportunity to visit major European museums. Her talent in painting was noticed by her school drawing teacher, who advised her to study at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts. In 1905, after reading Julius Meier-Graefe's book "Manet and His Circle," she decided to move to Paris, the center of the art world.
Early Years in Paris
In Paris, Sonia Delaunay was dissatisfied with the academic teaching style but spent a lot of time in art galleries. She was influenced by artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, Rousseau, and the Fauvists. In 1908, she married Wilhelm Uhde, a German collector, art dealer, and critic. In 1909, she met artist Robert Delaunay, and in 1910, she divorced her first husband and married Delaunay. At the time of their marriage, she was already pregnant with their child. Inspired by the Cubists, Sonia Delaunay moved away from naturalism and figuration towards geometry and abstraction after 1911. She experimented with rhythm and the decomposition of color. In 1913, Guillaume Apollinaire, who introduced the Delaunays to Blaise Cendrars, referred to the version of Cubism they developed in their works as Orphism. Sonia created illustrations for Cendrars' Cubist poem "Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jeanne of France" in 1913, and the geometric style of this work influenced the search for Paul Klee.
Time in Spain and Portugal
From 1914 to 1920, the Delaunays spent time in Spain and Portugal, where they befriended local artists. In Spain, Sonia Delaunay met Sergei Diaghilev and designed the ballet "Cleopatra" to the music of Anatoly Lyadov in 1918. Upon their return to Paris in 1920, Sonia opened a fashionable studio. In 1925, she participated in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, along with artists such as Alexandra Exter, Nathan Altman, and David Sterenberg. Sonia became a leading figure in the Art Deco movement, and her discoveries were widely used in design, ceramics, set design, and advertising.
Later Years and Legacy
In the 1930s, Sonia Delaunay was connected to the abstract explorations of artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Ben Nicholson, and Michel Seuphor. Her son with Robert Delaunay, Charles Delaunay (1911-1988), became a prominent music critic, manager, jazz enthusiast, and historian. Sonia Delaunay became the first female artist to have a solo exhibition at the Louvre in 1964. In 1975, she was honored as an Officer of the Legion of Honor.
