Kuniko Satonobu Spirig

The photo of Nell Walden wearing a scarf designed by Sonia Delaunay harks back to a question explored in my doctoral thesis on Sonia’s work: where did the geometric shapes she used (e.g. circle, semicircle, rectangle, L shape) come from? How did she use them in her applied art and her abstract paintings? Sonia’s work is closely linked to the female body. Not because she created articles of clothing to be worn on the body, but because she transformed the parts of the female body into geometric forms, such as circles and semicircles for breasts or bellies. Then she uses these geometric forms based on the female body in fabrics and articles of clothing.  So, wearing Sonia’s fabrics is like wearing a body on the body. Paul Klee saw Sonia’s work on two occasions: first when he visited the Delaunays in Paris in 1912, and later at the Herbstsalon of 1913, when he particularly admired her book covers. Sonia’s influence is apparent in Klee’s use of rectangles in his paintings. The subject of her influence on Klee merits deeper reflection and more research.