Sonia Delaunay, Paris
Acquired from the Estate of the above

Barcelona, Sonia & Robert Delaunay, Galerie Barbié, 2006-07, illustrated in the catalogue
Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Sonia Delaunays Welt der Kunst, 2008-09, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Executed on cream laid paper, taped on the verso to a window mat along top edge and at bottom corners. One-inch tear at center of left edge. Small spot of discoloration 4 inches to the left of the figure's waist. Studio stains on the verso. Otherwise fine, work is in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sonia Terk met Robert Delaunay in Paris in the early months of 1909. Both emerging artists, the two were immediately drawn to each other and the three decades that followed were ones of unparalleled artistic collaboration. Stanley Baron writes, "All the evidence implies that the thirty years they spent together, often working side by side, continually exchanging views and ideas, and feeding each other's talent, were filled with a sense of rare unity. It is all the more extraordinary because their heritage and background were in only few respects comparable; they seemed, all the same, to complement each other basically, to fulfill each other's needs, and to harmonize to a remarkable extent their ideas about the nature of art and their painting" (Stanley Baron, Sonia Delaunay: The Life of an Artist, London, 1995, p. 19).

The 7 lots that follow, formerly in Sonia's personal collection and now offered from a private European collector, provide a rare and comprehensive glimpse into the passionate collaboration between these two vanguards of modernism. Resonant in these works is the potential the Delaunays saw in pure abstraction and the radical transformation it could (and would) bring for the cultural ethos of the 20^th century. Their artistic genius was clear from the very start of their careers, evidenced here by the early landscape by Robert which was exhibited in the 1905 Salon des Indépendants (lot 129). By 1918, whe♛n Tristan Tzara published his Dadaist Manifesto, the Delaunays had abandoned earlier idioms for an entirely new form of abstraction that relied on the natural properties of color. Not satisfied with the limitations of oil on canvas, the artists broke out into new med🐎iums. While Robert turned to relief sculpture as a new and boldly modern expression of Orphism (lot 128), Sonia designed textiles and clothing that typified the glamorous forms of the 1920s (lot 126). She tirelessly devoted herself to the creation of an encompassing art form that would permeate all corners of the modern lifestyle. After Robert's death in 1941, Sonia continued her artistic pursuits and expanded her projects to the monumental scale that post-War abstraction often favored (lot 125).

This collection of works borne from the artistic pursuits of these modern masters is offered along with a relief sculpture by Jean Arp (lot 127) – a close friend of the Delaunays. The fact that all of these works remained in Sonia's collection until her death speaks to their significance both personally, to Sonia, and artistically, to the trajectory of Modernism in 20^th century art.