Utitled 1917

Curator: Isn't this watercolor by Sonia Delaunay, simply titled "Untitled," from 1917 just delightful? I find myself smiling already. Editor: It's undeniably charming, but I see something deeper, Curator. It resonates with the fervor of its time. The avant-garde challenging tradition. Remember 1917? World War I was raging, and revolutionary ideas were brewing across Europe. Curator: Oh, absolutely. Yet there is a certain joyous quality, isn't there? Those almost playful circles in vibrant blues and reds, swirling around a darker, almost hidden form. To me, it speaks to a world of swirling emotions, dreams and hope, during bleak times. It feels so much about being at one with everything! Editor: Yes, the composition certainly creates that sensation of circularity, but one must consider that Delaunay, along with her husband Robert, developed Simultanism or Orphism –– a branch of Cubism focused on pure abstraction and bright, contrasting colours to create a sense of movement. How do we engage with a formal exercise divorced from direct reference at a time of so much social and political upheaval? Was it purely an escape? Or something more...a rebuilding? Curator: It does seem to embody some hidden message. The way the forms almost, almost suggest something figurative but remain elusive. They dance around a core. They leave you to create something from nothing. I love how she builds this abstraction so meticulously, so delicately, but you are left with more questions than answers. It really resonates, you see! Editor: The deliberate choice to focus on non-representational forms was in itself a very pointed claim, challenging not only artistic norms but the very way reality was perceived. Abstraction provided an arena for reimagining social structures and questioning established notions. In that, it’s less "an escape" and more like critical visionary resistance through form and color. Curator: Well, whatever she was trying to convey to you back then, and perhaps it could have been anything – a political thought or the scent of fresh oranges. I appreciate Sonia sharing her most honest reaction to the events in life using geometric language with all those beautiful colours. That I can see as art for arts sake! Editor: And through that language, we have yet another window into the complexities of a pivotal moment in history, viewed through the sensibilities of a brilliant and fiercely modern woman artist. It serves as a reminder that artistic expression is, indeed, always interwoven with the socio-political fabric of its time, no matter how abstract the final product may appear to be.