Sonia Delaunay was one of the most innovative and experimental artists of the 20th century - and one of the most important pioneers of abstraction.
"Rythme couleur" - "Rhythm Color" embodies the concept of Simultanism (Orphism) that she and Robert Delaunay developed in the mid-1910s. Through the bold, imaginative use of color and the use of simple geometric shapes - circle, square, rectangle and triangle - in conjunction with color, she was able to suggest different depths of planes and a sense of movement in her paintings.
Published in 1966, "Rythmes-Couleurs" includes 11 gouaches on paper, which were reproduced as pochoirs with a text by publisher and gallerist Jacques Damase 1930-2014).
Jacques Damase published texts by Jean-Paul Sartre (Nourritures, with illustrations by Wols), Jean-Louis Barrault, Daniel Gélin and as an author brought out monographs on Chagall, Braque, Vivin, Picasso and Arno Breker.
As a curator, he organized several exhibitions, including the first exhibition of English Pop Art in Geneva, and took care of Sonia Delaunay's work during the last 15 years of her life, multiplying albums, monographs and editions of engravings and lithographs by this great abstract artist with whose name he was to remain associated.
Damase managed an art gallery in Paris (Galerie de Varenne) and in Brussels, where he showed works by Le Corbusier, Jim Dine, Jean Cocteau, Hans Arp.
As an editor, he published original and personal books (Paul Éluard, Marcel Aymé, Joë Bousquet), which he designed himself from beginning to end (layout, typography, graphics), in the fields of art, literature and typography. His books have been shown in international exhibitions in museums and libraries.
