Kazimir Malevich (1878–1935)

Malevich K. Study for a Fresco Painting (Self-Portrait). 1907

Shown at the First Moscow Salon exhibition in 1911 as part of a cycle of works under the common heading of Yellow Series, this is one of the earliest known self-portraits of Kazimir Malevich. Like the other works of the series, Self-Portrait betrays the influence of the mystical overtones of Symbolism. The restrained and melodious tones of this ornamental painting also slot naturally into the stylistics of Art Nouveau. Even at this early stage in Malevich’s professional career, his outer appearance offers a hint at the messianic rфle in art to which he and his followers would later lay claim.

Malevich K. Suprematism. 1915–16

This painting consists of dynamic links of coloured geometric figures — a rectangle, square, circle and cross. Intersecting one another and existing in harmony, they are the “letters” of the universal language invented by Kazimir Malevich and called Suprematism. Malevich’s Suprematist movement developed the idea of the “supremacy” of the ultra-personal essence of art. Hovering in the white space of the background, the “constructions” that comprise the composition of the picture personify the artist’s concept of an infinite universe.

There is no top or bottom in the picture. The artist creates a new reality, a sort of das Ding an sich, the existence of which is confined to the frames of the canvas. The attempt to not only feel oneself part of the universe led Kazimir Malevich to employ in his art the experiences of the psychology of human perception.

Malevich K. Black Square. Circa 1923

Kazimir Malevich employs the simplest geometric figures to construct a new reality, which does not have anything in common with nature, where the most important thing is the relationship between time and space. Malevich’s painterly formulae are born in these combined forms as the basic principles of the language of his art. These formulae had a sacred meaning in the artist’s consciousness akin to that of a medieval alchemist.

The initial version of Black Square was first shown at the 0.10. Last Futurist Exhibition in Petrograd (1915). It was hung in the right corner of the hall, where icons are traditionally hung in Orthodox homes.

Malevich’s “icon” in this way became a symbol of the new era. The artist himself called the work “a bare icon without a frame.” During Malevich’s lifetime, Black Square became a specific symbol of both his art and the Suprematist movement.