Sonia Delaunay - Living Art

A richly crafted tribute to the pioneering avant-garde artist, designer, and entrepreneur Sonia Delaunay (1885–1979), whose boundary-breaking approach is echoed in the volume’s interdisciplinary and inspired design. This catalogue sets a new standard for the study of Delaunay, eschewing traditional chronological structures to better showcase groundbreaking research unifying the artist’s timeless oeuvre across mediums. This publication demonstrates Delaunay’s innate versatility and willingness to create without material limitation using her unique language of light and color. Textiles, fashion, interiors, book art, and more are highlighted across twenty-six chapters by leading international scholars to give new insight into Delaunay’s strategies of self-promotion, entrepreneurial endeavors, legacy-building efforts, and vast network of collaborators. These in-depth analyses, including previously under-investigated material such as film, mosaics, tapestries, and interior design, offer a comprehensive perspective on Delaunay’s lifelong effort to unite art with life by harnessing the energy of technological advancement and the beauty of artisanal craftsmanship. Finally, an appendix provides a unique personal note—an epilogue by Patrick Raynaud (born 1946), the last living member of Delaunay’s atelier—as a touching firsthand account of the artist’s working practices toward the end of her life. The design, by award-winning book creator Irma Boom, embraces Sonia Delaunay’s own approach to layout and typography, rendering a book that unites past and present.