Russian Insane: Suprematism And Futurism

With the transition of Russia, from an Orthodox religious, tsarist autocracy, to a progressively industrial entity and eventual Communist state, came a liberation in the mindset of art, producing radical attributes that coincided with their historical context. Along with this societal metamorphosis, the previous artistic movements of Cubism, Futurism and the like provided for a shift from concrete expressions to more abstract counterparts. Early twentieth century Russia served as the appropriate breeding grounds for this type of art for the historical events it experienced such as the First World War and the Russian Revolution. The main proponent to such radical thought was the Russian avant-garde, a group of individuals utilizing artistic

Specifically, his rejection of modern reason was consistently brought up as a product of Suprematist notion. Malevich stated, “We have come as far as the rejection of reason but we rejected reason so that another kind of reason could grow in us…can be called beyond reason”, meaning that even though one has broken down the concept of reason, another more fulfilling type will be or already has been proliferated. Malevich rejected the consumption of other types of artistic mannerisms, although he originally did assimilate Cubist, and to some extent, Futurist motifs, in a nihilistic manner. The avant-garde of this time period was heavily distracted from its quest for modernity due to the constant struggles in Russia such as World War I and the Communist Revolution. Such time periods affected how the avant-garde artists rendered art to the point where art was beginning to evoke the idea that common objects do not matter in the artistic world. Ultimately to Malevich, these ideas manifested into Suprematism where not only do common objects have no meaning, but also the constant tragedy of war in the world was causing normal thought to no longer have meaning as well. To revert to a more simpler state was the ideology of Malevich. This constant progressive flow would continue as he would support the Russian Revolution, but would not

The nature that Malevich referred to was the world in which everything was normative and easily detected. Objects that were commonly used through their purpose were seen as artistic, and in Malevich’s view, utility is not necessary for artistic value. For that reason, items that were nonobjective were seen as more artistic to Malevich. In 1917, the Russian Revolution came about, converting the Russian tsarist autocracy into the Soviet Republic under Vladimir Lenin. The change in politics would not affect the avant-garde until Josef Stalin would introduce Socialist Realism, a form of art used as propaganda for the Soviet Union. This new style of art was enforced as the “official style of Soviet culture” and focused on the utilitarian aspects of art in the communist society. This contrasted against Malevich, who completely dismissed any sort of implication to utility and involvement with nature. Eventually, he himself would detach from abstract painting and would lean towards more figurative