Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color is a children’s storybook with colorful illustration pictures and Sonia Delaunay’s works. Sonia Delaunay was a Parisian avant-garde artist. She is known as the pioneer of Simultanism. Together with her husband, Robert Delaunay, she explored shapes, sounds, colors in its movements.
Courtesy of https://fatinha.com/
This book tells about the fascinating journey of Charles with his mother-Sonia, to listen to the “sound of colors”. It begins with the curiosity of Charles when he finds the unique colorful fabric in his wardrobe. Her mother says that it is a blanket when he was a baby. It was inspired by the Ukrainian motifs and made from the little piece of fabrics that were sewed together. At that time, his mother was really happy with her crafts and said that she “can almost hear the colors singing”. Charles becomes more curious about what it is meant. Then, the mother takes him on a fanciful journey to the world of colors.
Courtesy of https://fatinha.com/
Courtesy of Instagram Account of @themuseumofmodernart
Their journey to follow the sound of the colors is quite exciting. Sonia encourages his son to feel the rhythm of colors. They make stops in some fascinating places, like a dance hall in Paris or an outdoor market in Portugal. In each stop, Sonia introduces her son to a new experience of colors, sights, sounds, and feelings. Eventually, colorful silk pajama brings Charles to hear, dance, and sing with colors.
Syncopated Rhythm/ The Black Snake by Sonia Delaunay (1967). Courtesy of https://www.tate.org.uk/
Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color is an interesting and worthwhile book. Its vivid and colorful pictures both in the illustrations and Delaunay’s works send the readers to the life of colors. Cara Manes and Fatinha Ramos–the authors, can present Delaunay’s works freshly and simply. It is not only suitable for young readers but also for everyone who wants to enter the world of colors and know some of Sonia Delaunay’s works.
“The Portuguese Market” by Sonia Delaunay (1915). Courtesy of https://arthive.com/
For me, the most interesting passage in this book is “Why not we let the color speak for themselves?”. It has been a long time to theorize color from our perspective, but “have we tried to let the color theorize by themselves?” It implies that we approach color not as an object, but as a subject. It will open our perspectives and a broader understanding of colors.
Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color is available in MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) Design Store.
Book Details:
Author: Cara Manes & Fatinha Ramos, with artwork by Sonia Delaunay
Publisher: MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art New York
Language: English
Dimensions: 32 pages | 23,8 x 30,8 cm
ISBN: 9781633450240
About the authors:
Cara Manes is an associate curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA.
Her professional activities can be seen on Instagram account @cmanes
Fatinha Ramos is Portuguese-born and Antwerp-based illustrator and visual artist. Currently, she is a full-time illustrator. She has worked for many institutions including MoMA, The New York Time, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Amnesty International, and other. “She often raises social issues such as global warming, sexism, racism and giving a voice to those who need to be heard”.
Her works can be accessed on Instagram account @fatinharamos and https://fatinha.com/
Credit video: https://vimeo.com/230368661