Sonia Delaunay is one of the women who left a great footprint on the 20th century avant-garde. When I worked at the newspaper, I often spent my lunch break at the MoMAT a few minutes away. I enjoyed looking at Robert Delaunay’s “Rhythm” in their permanent collection. Sonia and Robert’s duo exhibition was also held at the MoMAT. Once I quit the newspaper and entered the art world, I had many chances to take business trips to Paris, where I was able to cross paths with many works by the Delaunays. In the 80s, there was a gallery in Paris that specialized in Sonia’s works, and I bought many of her textile and ceramic works.

Sonia was born in Ukraine and raised as Sonia Terk (1885-1979). She began to learn art in Karlsruhe, then went to Paris in 1905 where she studied at Academie de La Palette with Amedee Ozenfant and Segonzac. She married Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) in 1910. He was a Paris-born artist who worked at the front lines of abstract art with those like Wassily Kandinsky (Russia) and Piet Mondrian (Netherlands), whose colorful and rhythmic style was dubbed Orphism. He is well known for his series of the Eiffel Tower. As a couple, they also cooperated with the Russian Ballet, and Sonia did work on the costumes. Sonia, who outlived Robert, had a skill that blossomed even beyond oils, including mediums such as textile and print. The colors of her prints (lithographs and copperplates) are particularly wonderful.