拍品專文
Monique Schneider-Maunoury, a former assistant to Sonia Delaunay who is currently administering the archives of both Sonia and Robert Delaunay, has researched the present picture in detail. She has kindly provided the following information:
In 1928 Robert Delaunay conceived an idea for a ballet which would glorify the city of Paris, to be titled Triomphe de Paris. He wanted the ballet to be produced on the enormous stage of the Roxy Theater in New York where his friend Léonide Massine was the choreographer. In preparing for the complex stage set, Delaunay created various works, including gouache studies of Parisian landmarks, costumes and dancers's tights. The present painting is a remarkable witness to the conception of the project, which was never realized because of the onset of the Great Depression in the United States in 1929.
Triomphe de Paris synthetically visualizes the great monuments of Paris, with the Sacré-Coeur at the center of the painting and the Arc de Triomphe in the upper left. To the far left lies the Seine, with three bridges and the first level of the Tour Eiffel rising from the trees of the Champs de Mars. Delaunay again refers to the Seine and its bridges in the large rainbow at the far right of the picture, a reminder of the interpretive color scheme often employed by the artist.
Triomphe de Paris is characteristic of Delaunay's famous images from 1911-12 portraying the city of Paris, particularly Ville de Paris, now in the collection of Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris. Both of these well-known works utilize a language of simultaneous contrasts, applications of color defining the form of the objects depicted and, in their surprising combinations, giving these paintings a wonderful energy unique to Delaunay. Both works also exhibit such common traits of Delaunay's mature style as the abolishment of perspective and the overall infusion of light which further fragments the composition.
In 1928 Robert Delaunay conceived an idea for a ballet which would glorify the city of Paris, to be titled Triomphe de Paris. He wanted the ballet to be produced on the enormous stage of the Roxy Theater in New York where his friend Léonide Massine was the choreographer. In preparing for the complex stage set, Delaunay created various works, including gouache studies of Parisian landmarks, costumes and dancers's tights. The present painting is a remarkable witness to the conception of the project, which was never realized because of the onset of the Great Depression in the United States in 1929.
Triomphe de Paris synthetically visualizes the great monuments of Paris, with the Sacré-Coeur at the center of the painting and the Arc de Triomphe in the upper left. To the far left lies the Seine, with three bridges and the first level of the Tour Eiffel rising from the trees of the Champs de Mars. Delaunay again refers to the Seine and its bridges in the large rainbow at the far right of the picture, a reminder of the interpretive color scheme often employed by the artist.
Triomphe de Paris is characteristic of Delaunay's famous images from 1911-12 portraying the city of Paris, particularly Ville de Paris, now in the collection of Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris. Both of these well-known works utilize a language of simultaneous contrasts, applications of color defining the form of the objects depicted and, in their surprising combinations, giving these paintings a wonderful energy unique to Delaunay. Both works also exhibit such common traits of Delaunay's mature style as the abolishment of perspective and the overall infusion of light which further fragments the composition.