Sonia Delaunay-Terk

Sonia Delaunay-Terk , 1885-1979, Russian painter and designer; wife of Robert Delaunay. Raised in St. Petersburg, she moved to Paris in 1905. With her husband, she developed orphism , a movement that strove for the harmonious mixture of colors. After World War I, her interest shifted to fashion design, but returned to painting in the 1930s. In 1937, she collaborated with her husband on a mural for the Paris Exposition. During the 1950s, she exhibited regularly and her work was the subject of retrospectives in Paris and Lisbon. In 1964, she was the first living woman to exhibit at the Louvre. She designed (1968) the costumes and setting for Stravinsky's Danses Concortantes.

Delaunay-Terk, Sonia (1885–1979). Russian painter and textile designer, active in Paris, the wife of Robert Delaunay. She settled in Paris in 1905, married Delaunay in 1910 (after a short-lived marriage of convenience to Wilhelm Uhde) and became associated with him in the development of Orphism. During the 1920s she worked mainly as a designer of hand-printed fabrics and tapestries; she made a strong impact on the world of international fashion, designing creations for such famous women as Nancy Cunard and Gloria Swanson. The Depression affected her business, however, and in the 1930s she returned primarily to painting and became a member of the Abstraction-Création association. After the death of her husband in 1941 she continued to work as a painter and designer.

Delaunay-Terk, Sonia (b Gradizhsk, Ukraine, 14 Nov. 1885; d Paris, 5 Dec. 1979). Russian painter and textile designer, active in Paris, the wife of Robert Delaunay. She settled in Paris in 1905, married Delaunay in 1910 (after a short-lived marriage of convenience to Wilhelm Uhde), and became associated with him in the development of Orphism. During the 1920s she worked mainly as a designer of hand-printed fabrics and tapestries; she made a strong impact on the world of international fashion, designing creations for such famous women as Nancy Cunard and Gloria Swanson. The Depression affected her business, however, and in the 1930s she returned primarily to painting and became a member of the Abstraction-Création association. After the death of her husband in 1941 she continued to work as a painter and designer.