Composition 1972 by Sonia Delaunay, 1885-1979

Sonia Delaunay, 1885-1979
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Composition 1972

Original etching with aquatint printed in eight colours. 1972. Signed in pencil. Numbered in pencil from the edition of 120. Printed at the studio of Lacourière, Paris 1972. Issued by Editions Lacourière. (With the publisher's blindstamp in the lower left margin corner). Colours: Pale blue, royal blue, yellow, red, scarlet, green, turquoise, black.

Extremely fine impression with sparkling fresh colours. On pale cream wove Arches paper. Generally excellent condition; two traces of old hingeing on the reverse of the sheet only. Full margins. Sheet: 29 1/2 x 22 1/2ins. Plate: 21 5/8 x 16 1/4ins (550 x413mm)

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In her work in colour etching Delaunay introduced a new quality into her art - that of texture. The progressions of brilliant colour, here glowing tones of blue, red, yellow, green etc (see above), stem from her earliest colour experiments with her husband Robert Delaunay in the 1910?s, whilst the inter linked pattern of geometric forms was her major contribution to 20th century French abstract art. In her etching, a medium which he she only began to use in the last period of her work, she found that by exploiting the actual textures resulting from the bitten plate she could extend the visual effects of her compositions. The work above, drawn in 1972, is an extremely effective example of this phase of her work.

Delaunay?s concepts of colour abstraction were developed around 1910. She and her husband Robert were interested in the optical progression and recession of varying colour pigments. By juxtaposing areas of strong colour and arranging them in semi-geometric forms they began to create a type of visual colour ?space-sculpture?. They called their ideas Orphism or Simultaneisme -? Simultaneousness? - and it was to become one of the most important influences on the development of abstract art in the 20?s and 30?s.