Painting by Kazimir Malevich "Suprematist composition": description

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Kazimir Malevich is the greatest artist who is honored not only in our country, but all over the world. During his creative life, he created about 300 avant-garde masterpieces that have not lost their relevance to this day.

Genius of the Russian avant-garde

Being the brightest representative of abstractionism in art, the great Kazimir Severinovich Malevich in the early twentieth century became the founder of one of his trends - Suprematism.

A new and so unfamiliar word meant perfection, superiority, dominance over everything earthly and tangible. Malevich's paintings became a breath of fresh air in art, and their whole essence was the opposition to naturalism in painting.

The essence of Suprematism

The fundamental elements of the paintings are geometric figures of bright colors, depicted in various combinations and directions. The geometry in Supremist paintings is not just an image. It carries a deep meaning, understood by each viewer in his own way. Some will see the originality and innovation of the author,others will realize that ordinary things are not really as simple as they seem.

This trend revealed itself most fully within the framework of the Russian avant-garde.

Innovation in the world of painting had such a place and time that it was reflected not only in painting, but also in the architecture and life of contemporaries. For example, the facades of houses and household utensils were decorated with symbols of Suprematism. It corresponded to the spirit of that time and became in demand.

Probably the most striking and exciting was Malevich's "Suprematist Composition" (a blue rectangle over a red beam), which to this day is the rarest work of fine art of the 20th century in Russia and the most expensive painting by a Russian artist in the world.

The painting is a masterpiece of new art

The painting "Suprematist composition" is a collection of the main symbols of the new direction in painting, geometric figures with a stripe in a diagonal projection. Rectangles of different sizes and colors seem to hover in the snow-white space, refuting all the laws of statics. This creates the impression of something unknown, something beyond the traditional understanding of the world. Quite earthly tangible objects suddenly appear as symbols of some new fantastic knowledge.

The canvas is the middle stage between the previously written "Black Square" and the works included in the white cycleSuprematism. The figures of geometry here are like a microcosm floating in the macrocosm of the white abyss.

The center of the picture is a large bright blue rectangle, close in its parameters to a square, depicted on top of a red beam penetrating the canvas and as if indicating the direction to all other figures.

According to the laws of Suprematism, the colors of geometric shapes come to the background, while the very essence of rectangles and rays, their texture is paramount.

The fate of a masterpiece in the first half of the twentieth century

The path of this painting to this day is not easy, but very interesting.

Wrote "Suprematist Composition" by Malevich in 1916. In 1927, the great artist, who was in need in his homeland, had a great opportunity to reveal himself to the world and organize an exhibition in Warsaw, and then in Berlin. Malevich's paintings, exhibited in the hall of the Great Berlin Art Exhibition, made a splash in the art world, and the public accepted them with enthusiasm. Among them was the "Suprematist composition" with a strip in the projection.

When Malevich managed to get about 2,000 rubles for one of his works, he rejoiced. But the dreams of a wonderful future were not destined to come true - shortly after the opening of the exhibition, Malevich was summoned to Leningrad by telegram.

Separated from canvases

The great master expected to return to Berlin and continue to popularizeSuprematist ideology. But he never managed to go abroad again. He, like many of his other compatriots, turned out to be a hostage of the existing political system in his own country. Malevich died in 1935. In his homeland, he remained a disgraced artist without a livelihood.

About 100 works by the unsurpassed artist remain in Germany. The eminent architect Hugo Haring became their keeper, who soon handed them over to the director of the museum in Hannover, Alexander Dorner. Dorner also sold part of the paintings to the curator of the New York Museum of Modern Art, Alfred Barr. Among them was also "Suprematist composition" with a stripe.

It is impossible to accuse Alexander Dorner of greed and greed. The fact is that he tried with all his might to escape from Germany, in which the nationalist ideology was more and more established in rights every year. At that time, to store works of "degenerate art" of Jewish-Bolshevik origin, which were considered to be Malevich's paintings in Nazi Germany, was like death. It was thanks to his connection with MoMA that Dorner managed to get an American visa and go overseas. So the masterpieces of Suprematism practically saved the life of an art critic.

Journey of paintings across the ocean

The modern world of art owes the salvation of part of the imperishable canvases to the American Alfred Barr, who, risking his life, took works of fine art to the USA in an umbrella. It's not hard to imagine what would happen to him if the cache was found…

The remaining paintings, ironically, once again found themselves under the protection of Hugo Haring, who, regardless of the huge risk to his life, again began to keep them until his death in 1958.

Amsterdam period and litigation

Truly about the fate of an avant-garde masterpiece, it would be worth making a film with a gripping storyline.

After the death of Hugo Haring, the paintings, including "Suprematist Composition", were sold to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. For some time, the canvas found peace within the walls of this museum, but not for long…

Since the 1970s, the heirs of the great avant-garde artist began to claim their rights to priceless canvases. Since that time there have been legal proceedings on the issue of the right of inheritance. Only in 2002, thanks to one circumstance, the descendants of the artist were able to get what they wanted.

It was in 2002 that 14 paintings from a huge collection from Studelaik were sent to the US to the Guggenheim Museum for the grandiose exhibition "Kazimir Malevich. Suprematism". This fact served as a decisive factor in the resolution of many years of litigation. In the United States, lawyers have found loopholes that simply did not exist in the laws of the Netherlands. Thanks to this, the Dutch handed over to the heirs of Kazimir Malevich 5 of his brightest paintings, among which was the "Suprematist composition" with a rectangle and a red beam.

End of ordeals

Long odyssey by Malevichended in 2008 when it was sold at Sotheby's for an incredibly huge amount of money, namely $60 million. This amount was offered by an anonymous art lover even before the start of the auction.

The popularity of the great master's paintings is only growing. This is also evidenced by the fact of the purchase in May 2017 (as part of the same auction) of the painting "Suprematist composition" with a strip in the projection. It was sold for a smaller but still huge $21.2 million.

The greatest avant-garde artist would have known how much his work is valued today… After all, at one time he turned out to be misunderstood and disgraced, especially after his triumph in the West.

So Kazimir Malevich's "Suprematist Composition", having endured so many trials in the difficult twentieth century, turned out to be the most expensive painting by a Russian author at a foreign auction. And who knows if this amazing story has come to an end…