[Nonfiction Wednesday] Listening to the Beat of Colors: The Colorful Life of Sonia Delaunay

Fats here.

We are delighted to join the Nonfiction Picture Book meme 2018 hosted by Alyson Beecher @ Kid Lit Frenzy. We would also be linking our nonfiction choices with our reading themes throughout the year, when we can.

Last Wednesday, I featured a picturebook biography of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. This week, I’m sharing another picturebook created by The Museum of Modern Art. It focuses on the inspiration of Ukrainian artist, Sonia Delaunay, for her bold artworks.

“Just as, in written poetry, it is not the way the words are put together that counts, but the mystery of creation that gives, or does not give, an emotion…so with colours, it is poetry and the mystery of an inner life that emerges, radiates and communicates. On that basis, we can freely create a new language.” – Sonia Delaunay

Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color

Written by Cara Manes
Illustrated by Fatinha Ramos
Published by The Museum of Modern Art (2017)
ISBN-13: 978-1633450240
Copy provided by Geauga County Public Library.

Summary: Young Charles’s mother, the artist Sonia Delaunay, tries to capture the colors, shapes, and sounds of the modern world in her artwork. Together they fly across Europe in their magical car so that Charles—encountering new sights, sounds, and feelings—can learn how, for his mother, life and art are one and the same. Featuring vivid reproductions of Sonia’s work from the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, this book brings her most fundamental ideas about art and life into focus for young readers.

Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color pays tribute to Sonia’s bold experimentation with color and art form. Sonia shares with her son Charles the stories behind her artworks. For instance, Sonia painted Le Bal Bullier. It was inspired by a ballroom in Paris where she and her husband Robert—also an artist—danced the tango. Movement played a big part in Sonia’s art. In another, Sonia painted the Portuguese market that she loved visiting because it was different from what she was used to back home.

The book also gave a subtle nod to Sonia’s fabric design, which was another thing she was known for. Sonia produced art and designed fabrics and other things until she was ninety-four years old. For art projects related to Sonia Delaunay’s style, check out Artsy Craftsy Mom‘s website.