Kazimir Malevich

Lore & Background

Born in Kiev, modern-day Ukraine, to an ethnic Polish family, Malevich worked primarily in Russia and became a leading figure of the Russian avant-garde. His work has also been associated with the Ukrainian avant-garde. Early in his career, he worked in multiple styles, assimilating Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism, and Cubism through reproductions and the works acquired by contemporary Russian collectors. In the early 1910s, he exhibited alongside other Russian avant-garde artists, including Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova. In 1915, working in a Cubo-Futurist mode, Malevich developed Suprematism, a system of pure geometric abstraction on monochromatic grounds. His Black Square (1915), first shown at the Last Futurist Exhibition 0,10 in Petrograd, marked a decisive break with representational painting. He set out his theory in the brochure From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism, published to accompany the exhibition. His trajectory mirrored the upheavals around the October Revolution of 1917. In 1918, Malevich began teaching in Vitebsk along with Marc Chagall. In 1919, he founded the UNOVIS artists collective and had a solo show at the Sixteenth State Exhibition in Moscow. His reputation spread westward with solo exhibitions in Warsaw and Berlin in 1927, the only time he ever left Russia. From 1928 to 1930 he taught at the Kiev Art Institute alongside Alexander Bogomazov, Victor Palmov, and Vladimir Tatlin, while publishing in the Kharkiv magazine Nova Generatsiia. In 1930, he was briefly arrested and interrogated by the OGPU in Leningrad. By the early 1930s, Stalin's restrictive cultural policy and the subsequent imposition of Socialist Realism had prompted Malevich to return to figuration and to paint in a representational style. Diagnosed with cancer in 1933, he was not allowed to leave the Soviet Union to seek treatment abroad. While constrained by his progressing illness and Stalin's cultural policies, Malevich painted and exhibited his work until the end of his life. He died on 15 May 1935, at age 56.

Reader's Guide

Malevich’s artistic development was marked by a rapid assimilation of successive modern styles—Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism, and Cubism—which he encountered through reproductions and the collections of Russian patrons. By the early 1910s, he was exhibiting alongside key figures of the Russian avant-garde. In 1915, while working in a Cubo-Futurist mode, he formulated Suprematism, a radically non-objective system of pure geometric abstraction set against monochromatic backgrounds. His painting *Black Square*, first shown that year at the Last Futurist Exhibition 0,10 in Petrograd, signaled a definitive break from representational art. He published his theoretical manifesto, *From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism*, to accompany the exhibition. His career unfolded against the backdrop of the October Revolution. In 1918 he began teaching in Vitebsk with Marc Chagall, and in 1919 he founded the UNOVIS artists’ collective. A solo exhibition in Moscow that same year, followed by shows in Warsaw and Berlin in 1927—his only trips outside Russia—spread his reputation westward. From 1928 to 1930 he taught at the Kiev Art Institute alongside Alexander Bogomazov, Victor Palmov, and Vladimir Tatlin, and published in the Kharkiv magazine *Nova Generatsiia*. In 1930 he was briefly arrested by the OGPU in Leningrad. Under Stalin’s tightening cultural policies and the imposition of Socialist Realism, Malevich returned to figuration in the early 1930s. Diagnosed with cancer in 1933 and denied permission to seek treatment abroad, he continued painting and exhibiting until his death in 1935. His work profoundly influenced contemporaries such as El Lissitzky, Lyubov Popova, Alexander Rodchenko, and Henryk Stażewski, and later inspired abstract artists including Ad Reinhardt and the Minimalists. Posthumous recognition came through major exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum, the latter holding a substantial collection. In the 1990s, his heirs began disputing museum ownership claims to many of his works.

Did You Know?

• Malevich was born to an ethnic Polish family in Kiev, modern-day Ukraine.
• He founded the UNOVIS artists collective in 1919.
• Malevich began teaching in Vitebsk in 1918, alongside Marc Chagall.
• His Black Square (1915) marked a decisive break with representational painting.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"We have rejected reason because we have found another reason that could be called trans-rational, which has its own law, construction, and sense..

.This reason has found a way-Cubism-of expressing the object." — Kazimir Malevich "..[to gather] under a new banner..

..[that the poets of yesterday's Futurism ] change the means of battle with thought, content, and logic..

..advance Alogism after Futurism." — Kazimir Malevich "Dynamism is also the forming formula for Futurists works; i.e. dynamism is the additional element that transforms the perception of one state of phenomena to another, for example, from a static to a dynamic perception." — Kazimir Malevich "Papuans bored, butCottage second-classTicket. Park. Arch." — Kazimir Malevich