Kazimir Severinovich Malevich - Russian and Soviet avant-garde artist of Polish origin, teacher, philosopher and art theorist. He is considered the founder of one of the largest areas of abstract art - Suprematism. He is better known to the general public as the creator of the painting "Black Square". However, his work is marked by many artistic works, many of which are now in the collections of the Russian Museum. These include about 100 paintings and more than 40 graphic works of art. According to experts, these exhibits most fully cover the entire spectrum of his creative activities.
The Russian Museum today has become a real haven for most of the creative heritage of Kazimir Malevich, who did not disperse into private collections. Here you can get acquainted with the works of the domestic reformer and teacher, which relate both to the early period of his work, and to the time of the artistic activity of a mature and mature avant-garde artist. Moreover, the master’s brush on them can only be associated with a stretch with the most famous painting “Black Square” in the world.
It is noteworthy that, according to the will of Kazimir Severinovich, the cremation of his body after his death in 1935 was carried out in Leningrad in a Suprematist coffin made in the shape of a cross.
Historical information
Kazimir Malevich was born in 1879 in Kiev. According to his artwork, one can very well understand the state of society at the beginning of the last century. According to the artist himself, his debut exhibition of paintings took place already in 1898 in Kursk. And in 1905 he made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. At this time, his wife Casimira Zgleits and her children stayed in Kursk, and the head of the family decided not to go back even after failing in exams, but to try their luck in an art commune located in Lefortovo.
Living in a large team of 300 brush artists in the house of the artist Kurdyumov for six months, Malevich tried to save on household expenses. However, after 6 months of even such a modest life, he spent all his savings and was forced to return to Kursk. And only in 1907, Casimir was able to move to Moscow for permanent residence. At this time, he began to attend classes of the famous artist Fedor Rerberg. And in 1910, his skill level already allowed to be exhibited in the galleries of the creative association "Jack of Diamonds", where the works of Russian avant-garde artists were presented.
Suprematist composition
The painting, painted on canvas with oil and titled "Supermatic composition", was presented to the public on display in 1916, when the name of Malevich was already
well known in creative circles. It is interesting that in 2008 at the Sotheby's auction it was sold by the heirs of the author at a price of 60 million US dollars. Until now, this canvas is the most expensive from a commercial point of view, the creation of a famous artist.
The history of this picture includes such a memorable event as the Berlin exhibition in 1927, where it was represented by Malevich. It is noteworthy that due to the impossibility of extending the visa by the Soviet side, the artist then interrupted his creative business trip and returned to his homeland. About 70 paintings had to be left in the care of the German architect Hugo Hering.
And since the owner of these canvases was no longer released abroad, after a while the responsible keeper handed them over to the Amsterdam Museum of Art on commercial terms.
The heirs of Malevich subsequently did not abandon their hopes of returning these paintings through court proceedings. However, all attempts in Soviet times were unsuccessful. And only in 2002, during the exhibition of 14 works from the general collection in the USA (Guggenheim Museum), the American citizenship of the descendants of the famous artist allowed to return some of them in pre-trial order. As a result, only 5 of the total number of paintings were returned to the present owners. Moreover, their agreement with a museum from the Netherlands implies the complete exclusion of further claims for the ownership of the entire collection.
Black square
Malevich’s work “Black Square”, written in 1915, is the most famous work in the world that has come out from under his brush and is part of a thematic collection dedicated to Suprematism. Exploring the compositional combinations of light and geometry, he developed this aspect to a triptych, which also included the Black Cross and the Black Circle.
The creation of this work was timed to coincide with the exhibition of futurists "0.10". Moreover, the picture was placed like an icon in a village hut, in the so-called “red corner”, in a special way to distinguish it from the entire composition presented. Until now, this work of Malevich is considered the most mystical and creepy in the entire history of painting in our country.
And the whole triptych, describing the main Suprematist forms (square, cross and circle), became the fundamental code of the general system of Suprematism. Other forms of this type of avant-garde art come out of them. Researchers of Malevich’s works regularly do not abandon their attempts to understand the first version of the picture. In this regard, in 2015, on the basis of fluoroscopy, it was possible to isolate 2 additional color images. Thus, a cubofuturistic composition was depicted at the base of the canvas, a simple-primeric composition was applied to it, and an image of a black square was superimposed on top.
In addition, on the canvas there is an inscription "The battle of blacks in a dark cave", sheltered under the upper layer of paint. In this sense, the researchers draw an analogy with the monochrome painting by Alfons Allé, written in 1882, and explain the name of the exhibition itself, where the work was originally presented. They interpret the number "10" as the number of participants, and "0" is taken as the final outcome of all things in the philosophical understanding of being.
Three squares
The geometry of the square has always attracted the artist very seriously. He even managed to experiment a lot with the "Black Square" shape, creating a triangle initially, and then changing it to a quadrangle with broken geometry of right angles. Experts consider this not as the author’s negligence, but rather as a way to create the ideal proportion in the figure, which should embody dynamics and mobility.
In addition to the well-known “Black Square”, Malevich also wrote “Red Square” and “White Square”. Moreover, he also presented the first of these works at the exhibition of avant-garde artists "0.10".
Mystical Suprematism
The artwork "Mystical Suprematism" was written between 1920 and 1922. She has another name - "Black Cross on a Red Oval." The canvas is made on canvas with oil paints.
At the Sotheby's auction, this picture was estimated at 37, 000 US dollars. Her fate fully repeats the story of the "Suprematist construction." Both canvases at one time were on display at the Amsterdam Museum of Art.
Suprematism. 18 construction
This picture was painted in 1915. And in 2015, it was sold by Malevich’s heirs to a private collection at Sotheby’s for $ 34 million.
Suprematist composition
The painting was painted between 1919 and 1920. In 2000, its value at the Phillips auction was $ 17 million.
The history of this painting after 1935, when the Nazis came to power in Germany did not favor the art of abstract art, is associated with their urgent crossing of the Atlantic. For many years, the painting adorned the exhibition "Cubism and Abstract Art" in the New York Museum of Art. And in 1999, she passed on to the heirs along with several other graphic works of Malevich.
Self portrait
Malevich painted his own portrait on canvas in 1910. In total, the artist has three self-portraits painted during this period of creativity. Two works today are part of the Tretyakov Gallery, and the third was sold at the London Christie auction in 2004 for 162, 000 pounds.
Interestingly, at an auction in Sotheby's in 2015, this painting by a famous artist was already valued at 9 million US dollars.
