Robert Delaunay

Robert Delaunay
Robert Delaunay

Simultaneous Windows on the City, 1912, by Robert Delaunay, Hamburger Kunsthalle
Born 12 April 1885
Paris, France
Died 25 October 1941(1941-10-25) (aged 56)
Montpellier, France
Nationality French
Field Painting
Movement Orphism, Cubism, Expressionism
Influenced by Pont-Aven School
Influenced Sonia Delaunay

Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885, Paris – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, cofounded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstract, reminiscent of Paul Klee. His key influence related to bold use of colour, and a clear love of experimentation of both depth and tone.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Robert Delaunay was the son of George Delaunay and countess Berthe Félicie de Rose. While he was a child, Delaunay's parents divorced, and he was raised by his mother's sister Marie and her husband Charles Damour, in La Ronchère near Bourges. When he failed his final exam and said he wanted to become a painter, his uncle in 1902 sent him to Ronsin's atelier for decorative arts in Belleville.[1] Aged 19 he left Ronsin to focus entirely on painting and contributed six works to the Salon des Indépendants in 1904.[2] He traveled to Brittany where he was influenced by the group of Pont-Aven and in 1906 contributed works he painted in Brittany to the 22nd Salon des Indépendants, where he met Henri Rousseau.[2]

Towards abstraction (1908-1913)

Champs de Mars. La Tour rouge. 1911. Art Institute of Chicago.
Simultaneous Contrasts: Sun and Moon, oil on canvas painting by Robert Delaunay, 1912-13, Museum of Modern Art, (New York City)

In 1908, after a term in the military working as a regimental librarian, he met Sonia Terk, who he later married, though at the time she was married to a German art dealer who she would soon divorce. In 1909, Delaunay began to paint a series of studies of the city of Paris and the Eiffel Tower. The following year, he married Terk, and the couple settled in a studio apartment in Paris, where their son Charles was born in January 1911. At the invitation of Wassily Kandinsky, Delaunay joined The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter), a Munich-based group of abstract artists, in 1911, and his art took a turn for the abstract[citation needed].

With Apollinaire, Robert travels to Berlin in January 1913 for an exhibition of his work at Galerie Der Sturm. On their way back to Paris, the two stay with August Macke in Bonn, and Macke introduces Max Ernst to them.[3] When his painting La ville de Paris is rejected by the Armory Show as being too big[4] he instructs Samuel Halpert to remove all his works from the show.[2]

Spanish and Portuguese years (1914-1920)

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Sonia and Robert were staying in Fontarabie in Spain. They decided not to return to France and settled in Madrid. In August 1915 they moved to Portugal where they shared a home with Samuel Halpert and Eduardo Viana.[5] With Viana and their friends Amadeo de Souza Cardoso (whom the Delaunays had already met in Paris) and José de Almada Negreiros they discussed an artistic partnership.[2][6] First declared a deserter, Robert was declared unfit for military duty at the French consulate in Vigo on June 13, 1916.[2]

The Russian Revolution brought an end to the financial support Sonia received from her family in Russia, and a different source of income was needed. In 1917 the Delaunays met Sergei Diaghilev in Madrid. Robert designed the stage for his production of Cleopatra (costume design by Sonia Delaunay). Robert Delaunay illustrates Tour Eiffel for Vicente Huidobro.[2]

Paul Poiret refused a business partnership with Sonia in 1920, citing as one of the reasons her marriage to a deserter.[7] The Der Sturm gallery in Berlin showed works by Sonia and Robert from their Portuguese period the same year.[2][8]

Return to Paris and later life (1921-1941)

After the war, in 1921, they returned to Paris. Delaunay continued to work in a mostly abstract style. During the 1937 World Fair in Paris, Delaunay participated in the design of the railway and air travel pavilions. When World War II erupted, the Delaunays moved to the Auvergne, in an effort to avoid the invading German forces. Suffering from cancer, Delaunay was unable to endure being moved around, and his health deteriorated. He died from cancer on 25 October 1941 in Montpellier at the age of 56. His body was reburied in 1952 in Gambais.[2]

Museum collections

Robert Delaunay's works can be found in museums around the world:

Europe

The Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (Spain), Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland), the National Galleries of Scotland, the New Art Gallery (Walsall, England), Palazzo Cavour (Turin, Italy), the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice), National Museum of Serbia, Van Abbemuseum.

United States

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, New York), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Berkeley Art Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Guggenheim Museum (New York City), the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX), the San Diego Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Rest of the world

The National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (Japan).

Notes and references

  1. ^ Düchting: p7
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Robert Delaunay - Sonia Delaunay, 1999, ISBN 3770152166
  3. ^ Willard Bohn: Apollinaire and the international avant-garde (1997), ISBN 0791431959, p82
  4. ^ La ville de Paris measures 234X294cm.
  5. ^ Some sources mention an Eduardo Vianna
  6. ^ Düchting: p51
  7. ^ Valérie Guillaume: Sonia und Tissus Delaunay. In Robert Delaunay - Sonia Delaunay, 1999, ISBN 3770152166, p 31
  8. ^ Düchting: p91

Sources

  • Baron, Stanley; Damase, Jacques (1995). Sonia Delaunay: The Life of an Artist. Harry N. Abrahams. ISBN 0-8109-3222-9. 
  • Düchting, Hajo (1995). Delaunay. Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-9191-6. 
  • Robert Delaunay - Sonia Delaunay: Das Centre Pompidou zu Gast in Hamburg. Hamburger Kunsthalle. 1999. ISBN 3770152166. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Robert Delaunay — (* 12. April 1885 in Paris; † 25. Oktober 1941 in Montpellier; eigentlich Robert Victor Felix Delaunay) war ein französischer Maler und gilt als Hauptvertreter des orphischen Kubismus, auch Orphismus genannt. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk 1 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Robert Delaunay — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Robert Delaunay (n. París, 12 de abril de 1885 Montpellier, 25 de octubre de 1947). Pintor francés. Marido de Sonia Terk Delaunay, fue uno de los pioneros del arte abstracto a principios del siglo XX. En 1912… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Robert Delaunay — (n. París, 12 de abril de 1885 Montpellier, 25 de octubre de 1947). Pintor francés. Marido de Sonia Terk Delaunay, fue uno de los pioneros del arte abstracto a principios del siglo XX. En 1912 abandonó el cubismo, con sus formas geométricas y… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Robert Delaunay — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Delaunay. Robert Victor Félix Delaunay, né le 12 avril 1885 à Paris 16e[1] et mort le 25 octobre 1941 à Montpellier, est un peintre français ab …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Robert Delaunay — (1885 1941) modern French artist, member of the neo impressionist and cubist movements …   English contemporary dictionary

  • DELAUNAY (R. et S.) — Observateur passionné, Robert Delaunay s’est emparé des idées et des théories de son temps pour les développer, les contredire et enfin les dépasser. Le cubisme s’élaborait alors, guidé par un sévère esprit de géométrie et enfermé dans une… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Delaunay — may refer to: Contents 1 People 1.1 Arts 1.2 Football 1.3 …   Wikipedia

  • Delaunay — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Albert Delaunay (1828–1892), französischer Erfinder einer Stenographie Methode Charles Delaunay (1911–1988), französischer Jazz Autor, Jazz Experte, Leiter und Begründer des Hot club de France Boris… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • DELAUNAY-TERK, SONIA — (1885–1979), French painter and fashion designer. She was born in Russia and in 1906 settled in Paris. In 1910 she married the painter Robert Delaunay. Her bold use of strong primary color was only fully revealed after 1912, when she and her… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Robert Mallet-Stevens — (* 24. März 1886 in Paris; † 8. Februar 1945 ebenda) war ein avantgardistischer französischer Architekt der späten zwanziger und frühen dreißiger Jahre. Seine Bauten betonen nachdrücklich das kubistische Formbild. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”