"White Square" by Malevich: features, history and interesting facts

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

Unlike Black Square, Malevich's White Square is a lesser-known painting in Russia. However, it is no less mysterious and also causes a lot of controversy among specialists in the field of pictorial art. The second title of this work by Kazimir Malevich is “White on White”. It was written in 1918 and belongs to the direction of painting, which Malevich called Suprematism.

A little about Suprematism

The story about Malevich's painting "White Square" should be started with a few words about Suprematism. This term comes from the Latin supremus, which means "highest". This is one of the trends in avant-garde, the emergence of which is attributed to the beginning of the 20th century.

It is a kind of abstract art and is expressed in the image of various combinations of multi-colored planes, which are the simplest geometric outlines. This is a straight line, square, circle, rectangle. With their combinationbalanced asymmetric compositions are formed, which are permeated with internal movement. They are called Suprematists.

At the first stage, the term "Suprematism" meant the superiority, dominance of color over other properties of painting. According to Malevich, paint in non-objective canvases was for the first time freed from a supporting role. The paintings painted in this style were the first step towards "pure creativity", equalizing the creative forces of man and nature.

Next, let's move on to the works of Kazimir Malevich himself.

Three paintings

It should be noted that the painting we are studying has another, third name - “White Square on a White Background”, Malevich painted it in 1918. Already after the other two squares were written - black and red. The author himself wrote about them in his book “Suprematism. 34 drawings. He said that the three squares are associated with the establishment of certain worldviews and world-buildings:

• black is a sign of economy;
• red indicates a signal for revolution;
• white is seen as pure action.

According to the artist, the white square gave him the opportunity to explore "pure action". Other squares indicate the way, white carries the white world. It affirms the sign of purity in the creative life of man.

According to these words, one can judge what the white square of Malevich means, according to the author himself. Further points of view of other specialists will be considered.

Two shades of white

Let's move on to the description of the painting by Kazimir Malevich "White on White". When writing it, the artist used two shades of white, close to each other. The background has a slightly warm tone, with some ocher. At the heart of the square itself is a cold bluish tint. The square is slightly upside down and is located closer to the upper right corner. This arrangement creates the illusion of movement.

Actually, the quadrilateral shown in the picture is not a square - it is a rectangle. There is evidence that at the beginning of the work the author, having drawn a square, lost sight of it. And after that, having looked closely, I decided to outline its boundaries, as well as highlight the main background. To this end, he painted the outlines in a grayish color, and also highlighted the background part with a different shade.

Suprematist icon

According to the researchers, when Malevich worked on the painting, which was later recognized as a masterpiece, he was haunted by a feeling of "metaphysical emptiness". That is what he tried to express with great force in the "White Square". And the color, local, faded, not at all festive, only emphasizes the eerie-mystical state of the author.

This work, as it were, follows, is a derivative of the "Black Square". And the first, no less than the second, claims the " title" of the icon of Suprematism. Malevich's "White Square" shows clear and even lines that outline a rectangle, which, according to some researchers, are a symbol of fear and the meaninglessness of existence.

All ownthe artist poured spiritual experiences onto the canvas in the form of some kind of geometric abstract art, which actually carries a deep meaning.

Interpretation of whiteness

In Russian poetry, the interpretation of the white color is approaching the vision of Buddhists. For them, it denotes emptiness, nirvana, the incomprehensibility of being. Painting of the 20th century, like no other, mythologizes precisely white.

As for the Suprematists, they saw in him first of all a symbol of a multidimensional space different from Euclidean. It plunges the observer into a meditative trance that purifies the soul of a person, similar to Buddhist practice.

Kazimir Malevich himself spoke about this as follows. He wrote that the movement of Suprematism is already moving towards the pointless white nature, towards white purity, towards white consciousness, towards white excitements. And this, in his opinion, is the highest level of the contemplative state, whether it be movement or rest.

Escape from life's difficulties

"White Square" by Malevich was the pinnacle and the end of his Suprematist painting. He himself was delighted with it. The master said that he managed to break the azure barrier dictated by color restrictions and go out into whiteness. He called on his comrades, calling them navigators, to sail after him towards the abyss, as he erected beacons of Suprematism, and infinity - a free white abyss - lies before them.

However, according to researchers, behind the poetic beautyThese phrases show their tragic essence. The white abyss is a metaphor for non-existence, that is, death. A conjecture is expressed that the artist cannot find the strength in himself to overcome the difficulties of life and therefore leaves them in white silence. Malevich completed two of his last exhibitions with white canvases. Thus, he seemed to confirm that he prefers to go to nirvana over reality.

Where was the painting exhibited?

As mentioned above, White Square was written in 1918. For the first time it was shown in the spring of 1919 in Moscow at the exhibition "Pointless Creativity and Suprematism". In 1927, the picture was shown in Berlin, after which it remained in the West.

She became the pinnacle of non-objectivity, to which Malevich aspired. After all, nothing can be more pointless and plotless than a white quadrangle on the same background. The artist admitted that the white color beckons him with its freedom and infinity. Malevich's "White Square" is often regarded as the first example of monochrome painting.

This is one of the few paintings by the artist, which ended up in US collections and is available to the general American public. Perhaps it is for this reason that this painting is superior to his other famous works, not excluding Black Square. Here she is seen as the pinnacle of the entire Suprematist trend in painting.

Encrypted meaning or nonsense?

Some researchers believe that all kinds of interpretations of the philosophicalpsychological significance of Kazimir Malevich's paintings, including his squares, are far-fetched. In fact, they have no real meaning. An example of such opinions is the story of Malevich's "Black Square" and the white stripes on it.

On December 19, 1915, a futuristic exhibition was being prepared in St. Petersburg, for which Malevich promised to paint several paintings. He had little time left, he either did not have time to finish the canvas for the exhibition, or was dissatisfied with the result, that he rashly smeared it with black paint. This is how the black square turned out.

At this time, a friend of the artist appeared in the studio and, looking at the canvas, exclaimed: “Brilliant!” And then Malevich came up with the idea of a trick that could be a way out of this situation. He decided to give the resulting black square some mysterious meaning.

This can also explain the effect of cracked paint on the canvas. That is, no mysticism, just a failed picture filled with black paint. It should be noted that attempts were repeatedly made to study the canvas in order to find the original version of the image. But they did not end with success. As of today, they have been discontinued so as not to damage the masterpiece.

When looking closely through the craquelure, you can see a hint of other tones, colors and patterns, as well as white stripes. But this is not necessarily a picture that is under the top layer. This may very well be the bottom layer of the square itself, which was formed in the process of writing it.

NeedIt should be noted that there are a very large number of such versions regarding the artificial excitement around all the squares of Malevich. But what is it really? Most likely, the secret of this artist will never be revealed.