Sonia Delaunay was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris.
25 Facts About Sonia Delaunay
2.
Sonia Delaunay was born in Odessa, and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to France and expanding her practice to include textile, fashion, and set design.
3.
Sonia Delaunay co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes, with her husband Robert Delaunay and others.
4.
Sonia Delaunay was the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964, and in 1975 was named an officer of the French Legion of Honor.
5.
Sonia Delaunay assumed the name Sonia Terk and received a privileged upbringing with the Terks.
6.
Sonia Delaunay studied in Germany until 1905 and then moved to Paris.
7.
Sonia Delaunay Terk gained entrance into the art world via exhibitions at Uhde's gallery and benefited from his connections.
8.
Comtesse de Rose, mother of Robert Sonia Delaunay, was a regular visitor to Uhde's gallery, sometimes accompanied by her son.
9.
Sonia Delaunay was pregnant and she and Robert married on 15 November 1910.
10.
In 1911, Sonia Delaunay made a patchwork quilt for Charles's crib, which is in the collection of the Musee National d'Art Moderne in Paris.
11.
The Russian Revolution brought an end to the financial support Sonia Delaunay received from her family in Russia, and a different source of income was needed.
12.
In Madrid she decorated the Petit Casino and founded Casa Sonia Delaunay, selling her designs for interior decoration and fashion, with a branch in Bilbao.
13.
Sonia Delaunay travelled to Paris twice in 1920 looking for opportunities in the fashion business, and in August she wrote a letter to Paul Poiret stating she wanted to expand her business and include some of his designs.
14.
Sonia Delaunay made clothes for private clients and friends, and in 1923 created fifty fabric designs using geometrical shapes and bold colours, commissioned by a manufacturer from Lyon.
15.
Sonia Delaunay's customers included Nancy Cunard, Gloria Swanson, Lucienne Bogaert and Gabrielle Dorziat.
16.
Sonia Delaunay gave a lecture at the Sorbonne on the influence of painting on fashion.
17.
Sonia Delaunay designed costumes for two films: Le Vertige directed by Marcel L'Herbier and Le p'tit Parigot, directed by Rene Le Somptier, and designed some furniture for the set of the 1929 film Parce que je t'aime.
18.
Sonia Delaunay however did not want to be part of the contract for the commission, but chose to help Robert if she wanted.
19.
In 1975 Sonia Delaunay was named an officer of the French Legion of Honor.
20.
Sonia Delaunay designed the pattern for a Matra 530 by experimenting with optical effects causing the car to recompose the pattern into a light blue shade when in motion 'so as not to attract other drivers' attention to the point of causing accidents through distraction.
21.
Sonia Delaunay died 5 December 1979, in Paris, aged 94.
22.
Sonia Delaunay was buried in Gambais, next to Robert Delaunay's grave.
23.
Sonia Delaunay was a jazz critic, organizer of jazz concerts and a founder of the Hot Club of France and the first editor of Jazz Hot Magazine, the club's official publication.
24.
Sonia Delaunay's painting Coccinelle was featured on a stamp jointly released by the French Post Office, La Poste and the United Kingdom's Royal Mail in 2004 to commemorate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale.
25.
US fashion designer Perry Ellis devoted his fall 1984 collection to Sonia Delaunay, producing knits and prints in Sonia Delaunay colors and patterns.