Soupault
1961
Raised in St. Petersburg, Sonia Delaunay settled in Paris in 1905, a time when the Fauves became deeply engaged in color theories. She was particularly drawn to color contrasts and music composition, topics that became equally important to her future husband, Robert Delaunay. Under financial duress during World War I, Sonia Delaunay applied her modern approach to textile and interior design, created costumes and stage sets for avant-garde productions, and became highly successful in her field. Later she resumed her artistic practice and is widely recognized as a pioneer of the European avant-garde.
Delaunay named this work after French poet and co-founder of the Surrealist movement Philippe Soupault, a close friend and one of several poets and artists in the Delaunays’ social circle in Paris.
Gouache over pencil on paper
28 3/4 × 20 3/4 in. (73 × 52.7 cm)
Gift of Gladys and Sam Rubinstein
2014.26.6
Provenance: [Galerie Denise René, Paris, 1992]; purchased from gallery by Sam and Gladys Rubinstein, Seattle, Washington, 1992
