Sonia DELAUNAY

Stencil, 1961

Edition : 80/80

Publisher : Denise René (Paris)

Image dimensions : 65.00 cm. x 50.00 cm. (25.59 in. x 19.69 in.)

Paper dimensions : 65.00 cm. x 50.00 cm. (25.59 in. x 19.69 in.)

Handsigned by the artist in pencil
Certificate of authenticity
Excellent condition

Gouache stencil
Johannot paper
One copy at the MAH Museum of Art and History, City of Geneva, under the title ‘Rythme Couleur’

This work is taken from the book of the same name, in which the French artist of Ukrainian origin illustrates seven poems by contemporary writers and friends: Stéphane Mallarmé, Arthur Rimbaud, Blaise Cendrars, Joseph Delteil and Philippe Soupault. Here, she illustrates a poem by Tristan Tzara, a surrealist poet from Romania who inspired her to create theatre costumes, notably for the play he wrote in 1921: ‘Le cœur à gaz’ (The Gas Heart).

This illustrated book was published by the Denise René gallery on the occasion of an exhibition of some forty gouaches by the artist in the same year. The gouache stencil process allows for the rendering of bright and solid colours. One cannot help but appreciate the mastery of geometric abstraction by one of the greatest representatives of Orphism. The composition is structured around flat black semicircles, whose presence is reinforced by grey areas. With the rhythm thus established, the addition of blue, red and green balances the melody. The work is the masterful culmination of what the artist describes as the simultaneous contrast of colours.

Ref : LCD7911