Object Description
Sonia Delaunay (France, 1885-1979)
Title: Hippocampe
Wool tapestry handwoven by Atelier Pierre Daquin (Atelier Saint-Cyr)
Measures: 240 x 181 cm; 94.5 x 71.3 in;
Unique piece (confirmed by Mr. Pierre Daquin)
circa 1970
Sonia Delaunay is widely recognized as one of the greatest translators of a modernist consideration of colours and forms to the material and texture of tapestry. Her language of animated, curving compositions of pure color does not pass through Cubism, as most of her contemporaries did, but rather dashes directly toward complete abstraction. Reflecting her stature in the world of art Mid-Century, Sonia Delaunay was the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition of her work at the Louvre in 1964.
This tapestry “Hippocampe” (Seahorse) represents the form of life in an abstractive manner with the competence of using vivid color palettes which “brought movement, light and musical qualities to the artwork.” (Guillaume Appollinaire, art critic).