Suprematism: Russian Artist Kazimir Malevich

1638 Words4 Pages

Suprematism, an invention of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, is one of the most radical movements in modern abstract art, a first one of pure geometrical abstraction in painting. Its name reflects Malevich’s belief that Suprematist art would lead to the supremacy of pure feeling and perception in the pictorial art and be superior to all art in the past.
Influenced by an emerging movement in literary criticism and by avant-garde poets, Malevich derived his interest in flouting the rules of language, in defying reason. The Russian Formalists, highly influential group of literary critics, were opposed to the idea that language is a simple and transparent instrument for communication. They pointed out that words were not easily linked to the …show more content…

The movement was greeted with enthusiasm. It represented the first decisive break with Western painting tradition- a new form for a new revolutionary society. Developed during the time preceding the Russian Revolution, Suprematism believed art to be capable of a tremendous catalytic power. The short span of time in which the October Revolution of 1917 also opened up new possibilities for avant-garde experiments in Russian art brought forth a tremendous …show more content…

The black phase was the ‘zero degree’ of painting and marked the beginnings of the movement. The colored stage, Dynamic Suprematism, focused of the use of shape and color to create the sensation of movement in space, pursued in depth by Alexander Rodchenko, Ilya Chasnik and El Lissitzky. The white stage was the culmination of Suprematism, exhibited by Kazimir Malevich during the Tenth State Exhibition: Non-objective Creation and Suprematism in 1919. His masterpiece White on White from 1918 dispensed with form entirely, representing ‘the idea’; it provoked responses from other artists that led to new ventures such as Alexander Rodchenko’s experimentation and exploration of the roles of specific materials in his Black on Black series from

More about Suprematism: Russian Artist Kazimir Malevich

Open Document