Malevich: 171 Paintings and Drawings

Kazimir Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician, pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the avant-garde, Suprematist movement. Initially his work combined elements of Russian folk painting with Symbolism, Impressionism and Fauvism. He was introduced to these French art movements, and later to Cubism, which would exert a great influence in Russia, by Russian avant-garde artists who had worked in Paris. During this period, in work comparable to that of Fernand Léger, Malevich dissected his subjects into geometric forms with a machine-like appearance. He subsequently drew his inspiration for a time from Cubist paintings and collages by Picasso and Braque. From about 1915 Malevich began to produce a totally different kind of art, which he call ‘Suprematism’, from the Latin supremes (outstanding or supreme). He rejected every form of sensuality and natural representation, and endeavoured to attain ‘pure experience’ through abstract, geometric patterns alone.