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Artist or Maker: SONIA DELAUNAY 1885-1979

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Date: Executed in March, 1925.

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Description: VARIANTE
Signed S Delaunay (lower right); indistinctly numbered (upper right)

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Medium: Gouache and watercolor on paper mounted on card

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Dimensions: 12 by 9 1/2 in. 30.5 by 24.2 cm

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Provenance: Private Collection, France (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 9, 1995, lot 456)
Acquired at the above sale

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Exhibited: Greenwich, Bruce Museum, Pleasures of Collecting: Part II, Modern and Contemporary Art, 2003

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Notes:

Property from the Schreiber Family Collection
Lots 196 and 197

"The art has been selected solely to our own tastes and emotional reactions, with the art historic aspect often enhancing a desire for specific pieces. Our engrossment continues to flourish as we avidly seek those works that we like and can afford. This can be a frustration, but the quest goes on."

Phyllis Schreiber wrote these words in 1984 when the Schreiber Collection first went on view at the College of New Rochelle. The exhibition consisted of some 35 works by Russian Avant-Garde artists, together with a superb oil by Gabriele Münter. Over the next decades, Mrs. Schreiber and her husband continued to collect Russian art, with great passion and discernment. Discovering important pieces was not easy and equal time was given to the careful research and documentation of every work that entered the collection. At a time when little scholarship existed on the subject of Russian art, Mrs. Schreiber spent many hours researching potential purchases and tracing their history, often back to the historic exhibitions of the revolutionary period. The Schreibers' search extended to Europe as they hunted down major works by artists who were little known in 1970's: Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov and Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné among them.

The Schreibers chose strong pieces that were seminal examples of an era exemplified by experimentation and a search for new forms of expression. When important Goncharova and Grigoriev works began appearing at auction, Phyllis Schreiber swiftly moved to acquire the finest examples she could. In addition, the Schreibers continued to visit Leonard Hutton Galleries, where they had made their first Russian purchase, and in 1976 acquired the monumental Gabriele Münter. The Schreibers felt that Münter's close association with Kandinsky, and her participation in such seminal Russian Avant-Garde exhibitions as the Knave of Diamonds in 1910 and Izdebsky's second "Salon" in Odessa, merited her inclusion in their collection.

In addition to their own enjoyment of collecting, the Schreibers strove to ensure that others would be exposed to art as well. As a Trustee of the College of New Rochelle, Mrs. Schreiber helped establish the University's Castle Gallery. It was fitting that the inaugural show at the Castle Gallery in 1984 was Russian Avant-Garde Art from the Schreiber Collection. A second exhibition of selections from the Schreiber collection, entitled The Russian Experiment: Master Works and Contemporary Works, was held at the same gallery in October of 1990. The Schreibers also made a point of opening their home to various scholars in the field, including Dr. John Bowlt, Mary Chamot, Dr. Jane Sharp, and Dr. Alla Rosenfeld, then Curator of Russian Art at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.

Phyllis Schreiber's dedication to history and context, together with an unerring eye for quality and exquisite taste, resulted in a collection that was intensely personal, powerful, and well ahead of its time. It brought together works by artists who are now universally recognized as among the foremost talents of the twentieth century, including some of the greatest works by these artists still in private hands. Over the years, the collection was shared with the Schreibers' children, who themselves have taken active roles in acquiring an appreciation of art and adding to the collection. A selection of works from the collection was offered by Sotheby's London in November 2007. It is an honor for Sotheby's to continue its association with the Schreiber family, and to offer the Münter and Delaunay in this sale.


In 1925, the year the present work was executed, Sonia Delaunay developed a strong interest in fabrics and fashion, which culminated in l'exposition des arts décoratifs in Paris that same year. During this exhibtion, her work entitled boutique simultanée, was installed on the Alexandre III bridge over the Seine.