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Black Square: Malevich and the Origin of Suprematism
An in-depth exploration of Malevich’s pivotal painting, its context and its significance
Kazimir Malevich’s painting Black Square is one of the twentieth century's emblematic paintings, the visual manifestation of a new period in world artistic culture at its inception. None of Malevich’s contemporary revolutionaries created a manifesto, an emblem, as capacious and in its own way unique as this work; it became both the quintessence of the Russian avant-gardist's own art—which he called Suprematism—and a milestone on the highway of world art. Writing about this single painting, Aleksandra Shatskikh sheds new light on Malevich, the Suprematist movement, and the Russian avant-garde. Malevich devoted his entire life to explicating Black Square' s meanings. This process engendered a great the original abstract movement in painting and its theoretical grounding; philosophical treatises; architectural models; new art pedagogy; innovative approaches to theater, music, and poetry; and the creation of a new visual environment through the introduction of decorative applied designs. All of this together spoke to the tremendous potential for innovative shape and thought formation concentrated in Black Square . To this day, many circumstances and events of the origins of Suprematism have remained obscure and have sprouted arbitrary interpretations and fictions. Close study of archival materials and testimonies of contemporaries synchronous to the events described has allowed this author to establish the true genesis of Suprematism and its principal painting.
Kazimir Malevich’s painting Black Square is one of the twentieth century's emblematic paintings, the visual manifestation of a new period in world artistic culture at its inception. None of Malevich’s contemporary revolutionaries created a manifesto, an emblem, as capacious and in its own way unique as this work; it became both the quintessence of the Russian avant-gardist's own art—which he called Suprematism—and a milestone on the highway of world art. Writing about this single painting, Aleksandra Shatskikh sheds new light on Malevich, the Suprematist movement, and the Russian avant-garde. Malevich devoted his entire life to explicating Black Square' s meanings. This process engendered a great the original abstract movement in painting and its theoretical grounding; philosophical treatises; architectural models; new art pedagogy; innovative approaches to theater, music, and poetry; and the creation of a new visual environment through the introduction of decorative applied designs. All of this together spoke to the tremendous potential for innovative shape and thought formation concentrated in Black Square . To this day, many circumstances and events of the origins of Suprematism have remained obscure and have sprouted arbitrary interpretations and fictions. Close study of archival materials and testimonies of contemporaries synchronous to the events described has allowed this author to establish the true genesis of Suprematism and its principal painting.
- GenresArt
367 pages, Hardcover
First published November 27, 2012
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May 4, 2021
Shatskikh is one of the better liberal historians I’ve read so far on Russian modernism. She’s very attached to the idea of Malevich’s genius, & Suprematism’s uniqueness as an invention that in fact didn’t emerge neatly from Cubism & Futurism. She’s very defensive of Malevich, marshaling evidence to counter accusations against him that’s sometimes convincing and sometimes not. You’ll find no convincing synthetic social analysis of Suprematism here. All that said, it’s her general dedication to drawing out obscured elements of the Suprematist phenomenon & busting art-historical myths by use of archival evidence (even when those myths were spread by Malevich himself), that makes this book really good & worthwhile.
Most important for me: she draws out at length how Suprematism was first shown at an exhibition of designs for the Verbovka crafts artel, and had its ultimate group showing at another Verbovka exhibition. She takes the time to profile Natalia Davydova, the aristocratic society lady who ran the Verbovka artel, brought modern artists in to design for it, and herself became a Suprematist artist. She draws out Davydova’s relationships with Exter and Malevich, and Exter’s exposure to the British Bloomsbury Group artists, who themselves were developing abstraction as designers for a crafts manufacturing outfit, the Omega Studio. Also gratifying is Shatskikh’s digging into Malevich’s development of musical ideas with Nikolai Roslavets, and of prototypical visual poetry/sound poetry ideas with Olga Rozanova and Aleksei Kruchenykh.
Most important for me: she draws out at length how Suprematism was first shown at an exhibition of designs for the Verbovka crafts artel, and had its ultimate group showing at another Verbovka exhibition. She takes the time to profile Natalia Davydova, the aristocratic society lady who ran the Verbovka artel, brought modern artists in to design for it, and herself became a Suprematist artist. She draws out Davydova’s relationships with Exter and Malevich, and Exter’s exposure to the British Bloomsbury Group artists, who themselves were developing abstraction as designers for a crafts manufacturing outfit, the Omega Studio. Also gratifying is Shatskikh’s digging into Malevich’s development of musical ideas with Nikolai Roslavets, and of prototypical visual poetry/sound poetry ideas with Olga Rozanova and Aleksei Kruchenykh.
Displaying 1 of 1 review