SONIA DELAUNAY (Ukraine, 1885 - France, 1979)."Dessins, 1943.Pencil and ink on paper.Work reproduced in; SONIA DELAUNAY. Dessins noirs et blancs - Préface de Germain Viatte, Edité par Artcurial et Jacques Damase, 1978, p. 129.Signed and dated in the lower left corner.Size: 27 x 20 cm; 50 x 44 cm (frame).Sonia Delaunay's pieces are characterised by an expressive and dynamic use of form. In this particular case the piece is done in pencil and ink on paper, its finish indicates that it is probably a preparatory study for a larger composition. For this reason the piece preserves Delaunay's very personal synthetic style, which forms a geometric scene, where she combines different lines arranged through different strokes, thus creating an image that reminds us in a certain way of op art or kineticism, showing reminiscence of the work she developed together with her husband, both creators of orphic cubism.Born Sonia Ilínichna Stern, Sonia Delaunay is better known by her married name, which she adopted after her marriage to Robert Delaunay. A French painter and designer of Ukrainian origin, she was, along with her husband, one of the leading representatives of abstract art, as well as the creator of simultanism. She grew up in St Petersburg, in contact with her uncle's collection of paintings from the Barbizon School and with the cultural life of the city. In 1903 she moved to Germany to further her education, where she discovered contemporary painting and studied drawing with Schmidt-Reuter. Two years later he moved to Paris and enrolled at the Academie de la Palette, where he was also introduced to engraving by Grossman. Around this time he approached the European avant-garde through German Expressionism, with a body of work that also revealed echoes of Post-Impressionism. In 1908 he held his first exhibition, showing works from his recently initiated Fauvist period. Two years later he married Delaunay, with whom he shared aesthetic concerns. Their art then underwent a change of direction towards abstraction. The artist then turned towards the decorative arts, always with a clearly abstract colourist language that attracted the attention of her peers and also of the critics. Although she returned to painting in 1912, her fame as a designer had already been established throughout Europe. From then on she frequently took part in major European exhibitions, such as the Berlin Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. During the First World War she lived in Spain and Portugal, where she developed an intense creative activity, including collaboration with Diaghilev's ballet. In 1921 the couple returned to Paris, where Sonia Delaunay continued to work on important projects, as well as exhibiting her work both in Europe and the United States. From the 1950s onwards she was fully recognised and collections of her work began to be published, and in 1958 her first retrospective exhibition was held in Bielefeld (Germany). In 1975 she was made an officer of the French Legion of Honour. Today Delaunay is represented in major collections around the world, including the MoMA in New York, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Albertina in Vienna and the Haifa Museum in Israel.