Hasta La Ideas

Rythme Coloré (Colored Rhythm), 1946

Oftentimes designers speak about bringing art into everyday life; Russian-born French artist Sonia Delaunay made this central to her life’s work. Known primarily as an abstract painter and “extraordinary colorist,” Delaunay worked across disciplines: fashion, textiles, graphic design, interiors and fine art. On view until June 5th, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is presenting the first major exhibition of Sonia Delaunay’s work in the United States in 30 years.

Focusing on Delaunay’s designs for fashion and textile and covering two major periods of creative output between the 1920’s–30s, the exhibition shows more than 300 works with correlating period photographs, fashion illustrations and design work.

Design B53, 1924

Sonia Delaunay in her studio at boulevard Malesherbes, Photographed by Germaine Krull

A driving force behind Delaunay’s work is the theory of “simultaneity,” the sensation of movement and rhythm created by the simultaneous contrasts of certain colors.

(more…)