Kazimir MALEVICH


Kazimir MALEVICH, Self-portrait.

Kazimir MALEVICH (1878 - 1935) was a painter and art theoretician, pioneer of geometric abstract art, and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement. His pioneering work and writing had a profound influence on the development of non-objective, or abstract art, in the 20th century.

Malevich worked in a variety of styles, quickly assimilating Impressionist, Symbolist, and Fauvist styles, and after a trip to Paris in 1912, Cubism. Gradually simplifying his style, he forged his distinct voice with key works that explore pure geometric forms and their relationships to one another, set against minimal grounds. His "Black Square" (1915) represented the most radically abstract painting yet seen and drew "an uncrossable line (…) between old art and new art". Suprematist Composition "White on White" (1918), a barely differentiated off-white square superimposed on an off-white ground, would take his ideal of pure abstraction to its logical conclusion.
He was celebrated posthumously in major exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, which has a large collection of his work. In 2008, his painting Suprematist Composition sold for over $60 million, a record price for a Russian work of art sold at auction. Malevich's pioneering work and writing had a profound influence on the development of non-objective, or abstract art, in the 20th century.




Kazimir MALEVICH, Self-portrait.

Kazimir MALEVICH (1878 - 1935) was a painter and art theoretician, pioneer of geometric abstract art, and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement. His pioneering work and writing had a profound influence on the development of non-objective, or abstract art, in the 20th century.

Malevich worked in a variety of styles, quickly assimilating Impressionist, Symbolist, and Fauvist styles, and after a trip to Paris in 1912, Cubism. Gradually simplifying his style, he forged his distinct voice with key works that explore pure geometric forms and their relationships to one another, set against minimal grounds. His "Black Square" (1915) represented the most radically abstract painting yet seen and drew "an uncrossable line (…) between old art and new art". Suprematist Composition "White on White" (1918), a barely differentiated off-white square superimposed on an off-white ground, would take his ideal of pure abstraction to its logical conclusion.
He was celebrated posthumously in major exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, which has a large collection of his work. In 2008, his painting Suprematist Composition sold for over $60 million, a record price for a Russian work of art sold at auction. Malevich's pioneering work and writing had a profound influence on the development of non-objective, or abstract art, in the 20th century.


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