Is a fascinating French artist who was innovative in explorations of color and form while participating in the development of abstract art in the early 20th century.

But, to be honest, I choose this artist not only because of the vivid colors and interesting shapes of her works but also because she intrigued me with her biography and the place where she was born. To be precise, she was born in the small village, Hradyz’k, Poltava Oblast in Ukraine on November 13, 1885 (some sources argue that she was born in Odesa, Ukraine). And well, this is the place where my grandfather resided, so I was highly excited to learn about herself as well as moments of life that motivated, inspired, and led her into the expressionism movement.

“Sonia Delaunay was a multi-disciplinary abstract artist and a key figure in the Parisian avant-garde. Alongside her husband, Robert Delaunay, she pioneered the movement of Simultanism. Her exploration of the interaction between colors has created a sense of depth and movement throughout her oeuvre”, Tate.

At the age of seven, she started to live with her “middle class” uncle, Henri Terk, and his wife, Anna, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Because of the rich culture and wealthy city she was living in at a time, Sonia was infused with a special inspiration and knowledge, experience in it, which greatly influenced her life and future decisions (especially in art). “Nevertheless, her childhood memories of Ukraine remained with her and she often referred back to the ‘pure’ color and bright costumes of the Ukrainian peasant weddings”, Tate.

Artist was truly creative and unique at the work she was doing, so it is no surprise that her talent and ideas expanded beyond painting, and, as such one of the many works that reflect the idea of it is an illustration for the cover of Vogue in 1926…

“As well as a major retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Bielefeld in 1958, Delaunay was the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964. She has also had her work shown at Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée National d’Art Moderne and Tate Modern”, Tate.

The painting above is one of the most popular ones Sonia has created in 1914, and it displays Delaunay’s trademark – concentric circles at their best. Interpreted as an ode to modernity, she paints the lights and the rush of Boulevard Saint Michel into an almost complete abstraction of colors and texture, except two figures, which remain “discernible” in the lower center of the painting. The name of the piece, translated in English will be Electric Prisms, as for me, hints into the symbolic meaning of the living organism, or I better write person, who caught the attention of the artist with the way they were, and so, redistributing into the abstract manner they became prisms, with the electricity instead of the zest they had in the artist’s eyes and unique world view.

This piece caught my attention to the same extent as the previous one not only because of the colors the artist masterly choose but also because of the “silhouettes” of the fruits I can clearly recognize. The interesting part for me was that if you will not concentrate on the “products in the market” only, but on the whole painting, you will see the face with the colored eye on the left and the big nose at the center…

To conclude (even though I do not want to finish yet), I will quote some of the thoughts that were remarkable and that impressed me, as such:

I always changed everything around me… I made my first white walls so our paintings would look better. I designed my furniture; I have done everything. I have lived my art.

Colour is the skin of the world.

Colour was the hue of number.

One who knows how to appreciate color relationships, the influence of one color on another, their contrasts and dissonances, is promised infinitely diverse imagery.

Sources:

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-sonia-delaunay/delaunay-introduction

https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/inventingabstraction/?work=70

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79091

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/33389

“With the KODAK Camera in 1888, Eastman put down the foundation for making photography available to everyone. Pre-loaded with enough film for 100 exposures, the camera could be easily carried and handheld during operation. It was priced at $25. After exposure, the whole camera was returned to Rochester. There the film was developed, prints were made and new film was inserted — all for $10”, Kodak company.

With the slogan “you press the button, we do the rest”, George Eastaman, who was born on July 12, 1854, in the village of Waterville, some 20 miles southwest of Utica, in upstate New York, created a phenomenal product, which then led him through the winding path of different sorts of difficulties, which helped him gain the precious knowledge and experience, by that pushing him to create all the same phenomenal company, which then became the leading of its time and even as for today.

This man was the youngest child (he had two sisters) in the family of Maria Kilbourn and George Washington Eastaman. When he was five years old, his father, who devoted his energy to establishing Eastman Commercial College, moved the family to Rochester, but, unfortunately, it is never going smooth in the life as it was initially planned, and so boy’s father died. The college, where the man was working failed and the family became financially “wrecked”.

Because of the horrible situation, the boy ended school when he was fourteen years old and right after forced to find employment. And so right here starts his “real” journey. But again, it never starts smooth, and so his first job was just as a messenger boy with an insurance firm, where he was paid $3 a week. Nevertheless, after a year working there, he quit and became an office boy where he got paid a little bit better, $5 per week, because of his own initiative to take charge of policy filing and even writing policies. But, of course, it was not enough money, especially for a family he had, so he studied accounting at night because he believed that by studying he will improve a lot, and so, he will get a better paying job he urgently needed. But, it did not come quickly, and only after five years, he was hired as a junior clerk at the Rochester Savings Bank, where he got a chance to have a salary of $15 per week.

The interesting side of his life starts when he was planning his trip to Santo Domingo at twenty-four with his co-worker. Back then, he decided to take his camera with him, which back in the days was pretty heavy and at the same time uncomfortable, or, as he stated himself it “was a pack-horse load”, so you can imagine.

The trip was canceled, but, it did not mean that it was the end of a “photo side” in his life, because to be able take pictures on his vacation he payed $5 to actually learn how to take them, so it was basically his “push of a fate”, because eventhough he eventually did not had a journey, he instead became absorbed by the photography and everything that is connected to it.

Some day, he read in the article that amatuer photographers were making gelatin emulsions for plates (part of the camera) and because of that, they remain sensitive after they were dry and could be exposed at leisure. And right there, George Eastaman was inspired to try it on his own, by finding the right formula of it in all the same Brithish magazine he read.

He was working in the bank at the day, and right when the night appeared, he was experimenting at home in his mother’s kitchen. It continued for over three years, and then he created what he needed. “By 1880, he had not only invented a dry plate formula, but had patented a machine for preparing large numbers of the plates. He quickly recognized the possibilities of making dry plates for sale to other photographers”, Kodak company.

Sources:

https://www.kodak.com/en/company/page/george-eastman-history

Even though it is almost the end of the first semester, I am still want to properly introduce myself here. Well, there is no “secret” now that my name is Sofiia, so here I am. Now I am studying in the Capilano University IDEA program and I am enjoying the learning process to a great extend and also I am excited to go further in my studies and improve my skills and knowledge day by day.

I am an international student from Ukraine and for the past four years, I have lived in Canada. To be precise, I lived for over three years in Toronto, Ontario, and one year in Vancouver, British Columbia, and I like both experiences in these drastically different places.

As a creative person I like art in all its forms, and so I am passionate about music, that is why I have the experience studying in music school for piano major for over five years. Also, I will point out that adore taking photos and creating videos, the process of it gives me a wave of inspiration and joy.

Besides all the personal information above, I want to add that I am in love with animation and its process, especially the final results. Nevertheless, I am passionate about creating product design, UI/UX design, and web design. The illustration is in that list of my favorites too, so I hope that one day I will have a chance to work on some large project where I will put my major contribution by creating some kind of majestic drawings, etc. But, I am still on the path of learning and improving, so I am working hard to become a true professional one day, as for now, I am in Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication (or just a graphic design for an easier understanding) program where I am truly excited to learn all of the art pathways listed higher in the paragraph.

On the final note, I will state that the main inspiration in my life’s journey till now is my family because they give me inspiration, motivation, strength, and examples of true happiness and joy.

For this project, I decided to make a USSR School Pioneer Dress for the student of 1940. And I am satisfied with the final results, so I think I will mark myself 9 out of 10. Also, it took me approximately 4 hours to make.

To be more specific about the topic, “The Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization abbreviated as the Young Pioneers was a mass youth organization of the Soviet Union for children and adolescents aged age 9–15 that existed between 1922 and 1991. Similar to the Scouting organizations of the Western Bloc, Pioneers learned skills of social cooperation and attended publicly funded summer camps”, Wikipedia.

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For this work, my main inspiration was my mother, who had a chance to wear such a dress in her young years too, so I can confidentially state that she curated me in this process.

Also, I want to show you a couple of examples of how it “originally” looked like.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin_All-Union_Pioneer_Organization

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pioneers

https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5c441dd910247700ac99e9d0/skolko-seichas-stoit-znachok-starshego-pionera-5c7fd0eb20f38c00b367afdb

There is the saying in Ukraine and Russia, “Kartina Repina Priplyli”, and it is used when you appeared in a stalemate situation which is totally embarrassing and confusing.

And I assume you will partly understand why people out there have this saying if you will take a look at the works of this talented, unique, and mesmerizing artist whose name is Ilya Yefimovich Repin.

He was born in 1844 in Chuguev (Kharkiv province, Ukraine). The artist’s father was a “ticket soldier” and his mother, Tatyana Stepanovna, came from a well-educated family. Repin discovered a passion for painting at an early age so that in 1855 he was sent to a school of typographers, but in 1857 the school got closed, and Repin went as a student to an icon-painting workshop. He quickly became the best and at the age of 16, he began to work independently, enrolling in an artel, which was engaged in the construction and restoration of churches. In 1863, Repin decided to go to St. Petersburg and enter the Academy of Arts. He did not enter immediately, but after going through a course in an evening art school, he finally made it. After that, from 1863 he became a student of the Academy (until 1871). For 8 years of studying, he managed to receive several awards, including a large gold medal of the Academy.

The artist set himself a goal of creating a monumental canvas dedicated to the life of the people and not only revealing the severity of its share but also praising its spiritual strength. The painting above was revolutionary because of its disgusting reality which was widely normalized and maybe that is why it is one of the most popular paintings in Russia, to specify, it is reflected in the people’s own lives. “It depicts 11 men who are physically dragging a barge on the banks of the Volga River. They are at the point of collapse from exhaustion, oppressed by heavy-duty, hot weather, [and almost on the verge of death because of hunger and thirst]”, Wikipedia. It depicts dirty, tired, poor, and helpless people who a desperately looking into the viewer for something as if they are pleading for help. “[This work as if subtly hints at the] condemnation of profit from inhumane labor. Although they are presented as stoical and accepting, the men are defeated; only one stands out: in the center of both the row and canvas, a brightly colored youth fights against his leather binds and takes on a heroic pose. Repin conceived the painting during his travels through Russia as a young man and depicts actual characters he encountered”, Wikipedia.

This painting, with the old, mad man and his dead son made a huge wave of criticism and indignation in tsar’s Russia, not only because of its “absurd” penetration of the ruler but also because of its true darkness and not entering the framework of Christianity. It was believed that this painting was possessed by the devil because of its true craziness indeed. In the painting, you could see the dead body and true insanity, and it is all because the father killed his own son, and probably Repin caught that right moment when the ruler understands what he is done, by that entering the actual hell of repentance and pain. Also, we can see how dark the actual tones are in this painting, only the area of the two people is alighted, and maybe here is the moment when someone in the Repin’s imagination is opening the door, seeing the horrific. The dead son, if you will take a closer look, have a teardrop on his cheek, and I think that this adds a more obscure atmosphere to the painting, which a lot of people, in reality, wanted to destroy, because they believed that the ruler was a better person and also because of its accurate and deep penetration of the moment which sometimes happened in Russian Empire…

This is, indeed, is a very interesting and profound artist, who covered his works into savory symbolism, straightforward realism and whom I would like to write more about, because I for sure know that there is a lot more to share.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Repin

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ilya-Yefimovich-Repin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barge_Haulers_on_the_Volga

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_and_His_Son_Ivan