It's been 30 years since museum-goers have been able to view the work of painter and textile designer Sonia Delaunay. On March 18th, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (a branch of the nation's Smithsonian) will open it's doors on a restrospective that covers her textile and fashion designs from the 1910'sto the 40's.
Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay, will feature more than 300 works by the artist. Beginning with her poem dresses of the 1910's and moving through Jazz Age designs in Paris in the 1920's, Ms. Delaunay (maiden name Terk) expresses herself through geometric, abstract prints on fabric.
Known primarily as a painter, she and her husband (painter Robert Delaunay) worked together to explore the theory of movement in images created by contrasting color patterns. Ms. Delaunay's patterned bathing caps and embroidered swimsuits will be on view alongside a coat made for film star Gloria Swanson.
The exhibit takes us through the process of textile design through to the finished products that Sonia Delaunay created for the Simultaneous Boutique during the 1925 Decorative Arts Exposition, as well as the garments that she made for Metz & Co Department Store in Amsterdam.
Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay will be on display at the Cooper-Hewitt from March 18th to June 5th, 2011, existing concurrently with the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibit. The museum is located at 2 East 91st street, easily reached by public transprtation. You may find their hours and other news at www.cooperhewitt.org.
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