ABSTRACT
Between 1913 and 1916 Sonia Delaunay made abstract paintings. She returned to painting in the late 1930s. Although her palette changed, her basic approach to abstraction, which had placed her in the vanguard in the 1910s, remained relatively constant. The relationship between these two halves of Delaunay’s oeuvre is considerably complicated by her engagement with textiles and other media. The patchwork coverlet she stitched for her infant son’s crib in 1911 preceded the paintings that she then fashioned clothes to match. She subsequently designed costumes, clothes, and automobiles, as well as books and printed textiles. Throughout, she maintained continuity in her approach to abstraction, rather than a commitment to any particular media.
Delaunay herself viewed her work as a textile and fashion designer largely as a means of supporting her family; when under less economic pressure, she focused more on painting. The traditional hierarchy of media is nonetheless clearly inadequate to explain the visual continuities across the course of Delaunay’s career. Understanding Delaunay’s oeuvre on its own terms opens up a way to conceptualize the power of motifs at a time when this did not necessarily encompass branding.
