Malevich is a Russian (Ukrainian) avant-garde artist and art theorist from the beginning of the 20th century. The avant-garde in painting is reflected in abandoning the representation of the real world that surrounds us. Malevich's painting is called Suprematism, and he presents it as personal realism. To understand Malevich's realism, one should start from his first works.
Absence of logic
Through his early works, the artist countered the existing prevailing style of the time. Cubism, as the dominant painting style, was upgraded by Malevich by abolishing the (still existing) logic in the presentation of objects. Thus, in his painting Violin, which still has the artistry of Cubism, there is a cow unprovoked as evidence of a new level of the absence of logic.
Cubo - futurist opera and space program
“Kazimir Malevich” by Ivonne Chocarro is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
The beginnings of the direction of suprematism were established by "Victory over the Sun", a cubo-futurist opera from 1913. It was staged together by the futurist poets Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexey Krushenik, and the stage plans were made by Malevich.
The opera told the story of time travelers, who overcame the old concepts of time and gravity.
She gave birth to the concept of paintings that later appeared at the "Last Exhibition of the Futurists" in 1915.
The theme of space travel and the character of the Aviator is a direct inspiration for Suprematist painting. Malevich was fascinated by photographs of the ground taken from airplanes. Forms seen from the air from photographs mass-published in Russian newspapers during the early years of the First World War are presented. It was a new vision, a new concept of observing reality.
All Suprematist paintings depict geometric shapes on a white ground. In this way, abstract objects floating in space are represented.
Airplane flying
“Чёрный квадрат – Казимир Малевич” by ✿ willem ツ is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Kazimir Malevich, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Malevich associated this white ground with cosmic infinity and the void that represents the transformed consciousness.
Combining mystical spiritualism with modern technology was a common practice among Cubists and Futurists in Europe as well as in Russia Suprematist composition directly addresses this theme.
The horizon line is responsible for painting the perspective that governed painting from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century. That's why it was important to cancel that particular line. He succeeded with the help of aerial photography.
The painting Flight of an Airplane was presented at the exhibition "The Last Exhibition of the Futurists" in 1915 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Malevich's most famous painting - Black Square
The flight of the plane was not the most important image in this first display of Malevich's Suprematist paintings. The most important image was the Black Square. It was hung from the ceiling in the corner of the room in a position of honor, the traditional place of a Christian icon in a Russian peasant's home. This position was chosen in accordance with the importance of the image - a new icon in painting.
Malevich described the Black Square as:
"the first step of pure creation in art" and "the embryo of all potentials".
The other 38 images of geometric shapes, including Airplane in Flight, were generated from this basic shape. In the brochure written for the Last Futurist Exhibition, Malevich reiterates this conception of the artist:
“I transformed into my initial, zero form. I destroyed the ring of the horizon and escaped from the circle of things, from the horizon - the ring that limits the artist and the forms of nature."
What you see is what it is!
Malevich declared Suprematism the new "realism" in painting. He rejected the conventional understanding of realism in painting as a representation of the world we see.
One way to understand Malevich's alternative conception of realism can be explained as follows. The basic elements of his painting: surfaces, colors, shapes, and textures are real things in themselves. They are not signs that refer to anything else. A black square is a black square of smooth color on the canvas, no more, no less. It has no hidden meaning.
The change of government changes the art scene
The period after the October Revolution was defined by the great official support of the state for Russian avant-garde art. Malevich gets several professorial positions, a permanent column in the Kharkiv magazine "New Generation", and exhibitions that represent him in Europe.
In 1930 Stalin came to power and changed the state policy towards art. Malevich's works of art and manuscripts are confiscated, and he loses his professorship. He was forbidden to engage in avant-garde art and even went to prison for a short time because of a trip to Poland and Germany. He was forced to return to representational art until his death in 1935.
More than a hundred years after Black Square
Anish Kapoor, a famous, brilliant, British artist of Indian origin, worked on the subject of supremacist realism. His exhibition at the Academy Gallery in Venice in 2022. revitalizes Malevich's narrative of the Black Square.
Kapoor's favorite shape is the circle, which is the main focus of the exhibition... as a personal response to a famous work of art.
The exhibition has a strikingly similar setup to Malevich's Last Futurist Exhibition, with the Black Square in the corner replaced by a Black Triangle. Kapur thinks that a triangle is a more adequate shape to emphasize the corner. Other shapes in the room refer to the Black Square and the Black Circle.
Black circle
A black circle represented as a three-dimensional object is placed next to a two-dimensional black circle.
In this way, Kapur examines the effect created by the blackest color in the world. This color, called Vantam black, was produced specially for the artist by the company. The characteristic of Vantamblack paint is that it absorbs light, which hides the contours of the object.
The basic elements of the image are again at play: surface, material, color, and structure.
With the fact that Kapoor played with the observer. Malevich said through his Black Square What you see is what you see.
Kapoor said the opposite with this exhibition: What you see doesn't have to be true at all!
The artist urges the observer to pay more attention to the work and to look at it from multiple angles. Only after that do you come to a conclusion as to whether the first impression is deceiving you.
With Anish Kapoor, the first impression is not the last.
Malevich as an inspiration in architecture
“Zaha Hadid- Vitra Fire Station, 1993” by roryrory is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Malevich's Suprematist paintings served as inspiration for the creation of new spatial concepts in contemporary architecture. One of the most famous fans is the world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. A British woman of Iraqi origin, the initial stages of her work relied on spatial concepts of weightless, floating, strictly geometric objects that can be seen in Malevich's paintings.
Zaha Vitra Fire Station facility in Weil am Rhein, Germany is the closest three-dimensional representation of Suprematism.
“Kazimir Malevich” by FaceMePLS is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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