Under Malevich's "black square" they found the original title of the painting. Great and incomprehensible: Why everyone admires the “Black Square”

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was born in 1878 into the family of a sugar manufacturer and a housewife in Kyiv. He had Polish roots, his family spoke Polish, but Malevich considered himself Ukrainian. The artist spent his childhood in the Ukrainian outback, and, as he himself wrote, folk culture influenced all of his work. He watched as village women painted stoves, dishes, and embroidered geometric patterns on shirts.

In the future, the artist many times in his works described childhood memories, which later influenced his choice of profession. The father took little Casimir with him to Kyiv. Looking at store windows, he saw a canvas on which a girl was peeling potatoes. Malevich was shocked by how realistic the peel was depicted. Or, seeing a painter painting a roof in green color, was amazed how she gradually became the same color as the trees.

At the age of 15, his mother gave him paints, and already at 16 he painted his first picture: a landscape with a boat, a river and the moon. The artist’s friend took the canvas to a store, where they bought it for 5 rubles - average salary worker in 2 days. Further fate paintings unknown.

Then a lot happened in Malevich’s life interesting events: work as a draftsman, failure entrance exams to the art academy, exhibitions, teaching at the university, disgrace Soviet power- but now we will talk about his main works.

"Cow and Violin", 1913

It was probably from this painting that Malevich declared war on traditional art. It was painted in 1913 in Moscow, when the artist was sorely short of money. So he dismantled the closet and painted 3 paintings on the shelves. They even had holes for fastenings on the side. Hence the unusual size of the canvas.

Malevich came up with an “alogism” - a new style painting, opposing itself to logic. Its essence was in combining the incongruous. The artist challenged academic art and all philistine logic. Art has always been created according to certain rules: in music there is a clear structure, poetry was tailored to traditional rhythms such as iambic and trochee, in painting pictures were painted as the masters bequeathed.

In the painting “The Cow and the Violin,” Kazimir Malevich brought together things from two opposite banks. Violin as an object classical art, also one of Picasso’s favorite subjects, and a cow, which the artist copied from a butcher shop sign. On the back he wrote “An illogical comparison of two forms - “a cow and a violin” - as a moment of struggle against logicism, naturalness, petty-bourgeois meaning and prejudices.” There he also put the date “1911” so that no one would have any doubts about who first came up with the alogism.

Subsequently, the artist developed this direction, for example in his work “Composition with Gioconda”. Here he depicted famous work Leonardo da Vinci crossed it out and pasted an advertisement for the sale of the apartment on top. His performance on the Kuznetsky Bridge, the gathering place of today's golden youth, is famous: he walked across it with wooden spoon in the buttonhole of a jacket, which became a mandatory attribute in the clothing of many avant-garde artists of that time.

Kazimir Malevich became the founder of alogism, but did not develop it for long. Already in 1915 he came to his famous black square and Suprematism.

"Black Suprematist Square", 1915

Everything in this picture is mysterious - from origin to interpretation. Malevich's black square is not actually a square at all: none of the sides are parallel to each other or to the frame of the painting, it is simply a rectangle that resembles a square to the naked eye. For his work, the artist used a special solution of paints, which did not contain any black paints, so the title of the painting does not entirely correspond to reality.

It was written in 1915 for an exhibition, but Malevich himself put the date “1913” on the back. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in 1913 the opera “Victory over the Sun” was staged in which the artist painted the scenery. It was a production not accepted by the average person, consisting of slurred speech, avant-garde costumes and strange scenery. There, for the first time, a black square appeared as a background, blocking the sun.

So what is the meaning of this painting, what did the artist want to tell us? The complexity of an unambiguous interpretation was initially incorporated into the work by the author. Initially, many artists sought to depict the object of drawing as accurately and similarly as possible. Ancient man tried to show hunting in his rock art. Later, symbolism appeared, when, in addition to depicting reality, painters put some meaning into their works. By placing various objects in their paintings, artists sought to show their feelings or thoughts. For example, the image of a white lily implied purity, and a black dog Christian culture denoted unbelief and paganism.

During Malevich’s life, cubism was very popular, where the artist does not try to realistically depict the shape of an object, but shows its content with the help of geometric shapes and lines. Casimir went even further: he destroyed the form itself, depicting the zero of all forms - a square.

He created a new direction - Suprematism. This, he believed, was the highest manifestation of painting. The black square became the first letter of the alphabet with which his masterpieces were created. The artist called Suprematism new religion, and the square is its icon. It was not for nothing that at the exhibition the painting hung at the top in the corner where Orthodox Christians hung icons, the so-called red corner.

In addition to the black square, the exhibition featured “Black Circle” and “Black Cross”. And if “Black Square” was the first letter of the alphabet of new art, then the circle and cross were the second and third. All three paintings constituted a triptych, one whole, building blocks with the help of which the paintings of Suprematism would be built.

At least 4 versions of the black square are known, which Malevich painted later for various exhibitions. The first and third versions are in the Tretyakov Gallery, the second in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The fourth black square became known only in 1993, when the lender brought the painting as collateral to the bank. He never took the painting, and after the bank collapsed, Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin bought it for a symbolic million dollars and transferred it to the Hermitage.

In 2015, employees of the Tretyakov Gallery discovered complex geometric lines and patterns under the first black square. Experts say that under the square there are paintings, not one, but two. In addition, they also found the inscription: “Battle of blacks in a dark cave.” This is a reference to artists of the 19th century centuries to Paul Bilchod and Alphonse Allais, who already drew black rectangles and gave them similar names. So Malevich’s paintings still keep many secrets.

"Suprematist composition", 1916.
The main thing here is the blue rectangle located on top of the red beam. The tilt of Suprematist figures creates the effect of movement. Exactly this expensive piece Russian art

The most amazing thing about this picture is its history. Malevich exhibited it at an exhibition in Berlin in 1927, but he urgently had to leave. He left his works in the custody of the architect Hugo Goering, but fate turned out to be such that Malevich never saw the paintings again. When the Nazis came to power, all his works were supposed to be destroyed as “degenerate art,” but a friend of the artist took more than 100 of his paintings out of the country. Later, the architect's heirs sold them to a Dutch museum, which then organized largest exhibitions Malevich's paintings in Europe. Much later, the artist’s relatives sued the museum for their inheritance, and 17 years later some of the paintings were returned to their rightful owners.

In 2008 this picture was sold for $65 million and became at that time the most expensive canvas among paintings by Russian artists. In 2018, “Suprematist Composition” updated its record and was sold at auction for 85 million to an anonymous buyer.

"White on White", 1918

Developing the theme of pointlessness, Malevich created a white square, or “White on White.” If Suprematism stands above any other art, then the white square stands at the head of Suprematism itself. What could be more pointless than a white “nothing”, and even on a white background? That's right, nothing.

There is a legend that the artist, having painted a picture, lost sight of the square and decided to outline its borders and highlight the background more. This is how the work reached the viewer.

For the Suprematists, white was a symbol of space. Malevich considered whiteness to be the pinnacle of contemplation. In his opinion, a person seems to be immersed in a trance, dissolving in color. The artist himself was delighted with his work. He wrote that he broke the color barrier. After finishing work on the painting, Malevich was in a state of depression, because he could no longer create anything better.

The work was first shown at the exhibition “Objectless Creativity and Suprematism” in 1919 in Moscow. In 1927, she ended up at an exhibition in Berlin and never appeared in her homeland. Now in the Museum contemporary art in NYC. The canvas is one of the few paintings available to Western viewers. IN Soviet Russia the white square was strongly associated with the white movement. Perhaps this is why the painting is not as famous here as in the West. In the USA, the popularity of the white square is comparable only to the black square in Russia.

“Red Cavalry Gallops,” 1928–1932

The Soviet government was not very fond of Suprematism, or the entire work of the Russian avant-garde in general. The only painting by Malevich recognized by the Soviets is “Red Cavalry.” I think there is no need to say much why. Even on the back was the inscription “Red cavalry is galloping from the October capital to defend the Soviet border.” The artist put the date in the corner - “1918”, although the picture was clearly painted later.

There are 3 elements clearly expressed here - sky, horsemen and earth. But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance; few critics interpret the painting as a tribute to the Red Army.

The horizon line runs exactly along the golden ratio - the standard of proportions: the earth relates to the sky in the same way as the sky to the whole. Such a division of the painting in those days was very rare; perhaps, Malevich’s work as a draftsman in his youth had an effect. By the way, golden ratio is also present in the five-pointed star; whether this was a reference to Soviet power, one can only guess.

The numbers three, four and twelve often appear in the painting. On the canvas there are three groups of riders of four people each, which gives a total of 12. Each rider is, as it were, divided into 4 more people. The land is divided into 12 parts. Versions of interpretation are different, but most likely, Malevich encrypted a reference to Christianity here: 12 apostles, 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Holy Trinity... Although it could be anything: 12 zodiac signs, 12 months, 3 heroes. Perhaps the artist came up with these numbers by chance, but as you get to know Malevich’s work closer and closer, you don’t believe in such coincidences.

Even people far from art know who painted the “Black Square”. She became a kind of antipode of professionalism and artistic value, as well as the plot of many jokes. In fact we're talking about about a completely unique phenomenon in creative world and “Black Suprematist Square” (the real title of the painting) is not as simple as it seems to the common man. The meaning of Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square is still not known for certain, but there are many interesting theories that we will try to understand together.

History of creation and possible theories

The author of “Black Square” - a sensational work that has excited minds to this day - is Kazimir Severinovich Malevich. Long-term searches and discoveries of a new direction bore fruit, and it is Malevich who is credited with the destruction of traditional foundations. Now there are no usual shapes, color combinations and “golden ratio” proportions. An exhibition of paintings with the futuristic title “0.10” (zero-ten) brought him world fame and gave fame to the Black Square. The discovery was not only the superiority of simple lines and figures (three are considered the main ones: square, circle and cross), but also the deep meaning. It should be noted that the Suprematist movement was a real breakthrough and opened A New Look to traditional art. Subsequently, the book “Black Square” by Kazimir Malevich was published, in which the author creates even more mystery and does not provide an explanation for his work. However, there are several noteworthy theories related to the creation of the work.

Theory 1: hidden meaning

The simplest explanation for such an unusual work is that the artist simply painted over the failed painting with black paint. This can be supported by the multi-colored “veins” that appear against the background of the canvas. Numerous studies with special instruments in order to detect a genuine painting under a black background are still being carried out, but have not yet yielded any results. Art historians do not allow restoration of the painting itself and restoration of the supposedly existing lower image. However, their intentions are just clear, because if another painting is discovered, the price of the painting “Black Square” will be very doubtful.

Theory No. 2: the evolution of futurism

Fascinated by the theories of Cubism and having founded his own direction - Suprematism, the author brought to life the idea of complete formalism with his work. Malevich’s manifesto “Black Square” is a rejection of content and a balance of clear forms. Not everyone can understand this phenomenon of art, but it also has plenty of followers. This work is even called “the pinnacle of achievement non-objective art", which emphasizes the complete separation of the image from reality and the absence of any artistic message.

Theory No. 3: psychological technique

Such manipulation of consciousness is successfully used in many areas. modern life. Subsequently, the term “Malevich square effect” even appeared. Its essence is that any person can be influenced public opinion and cannot consciously determine the value of an object, nor can it recognize truth and lies. Why is Malevich’s “Black Square” famous? By analogy with the “naked king,” the essence and meaning of this painting is determined not by the artist’s idea or even by the proportions, perspective and color used, but solely by the opinions of others. This role is played by art critics who found in it more meaning than was originally intended.

By the way, this theory is also supported by the fact that initially the exhibition was not such a resounding success. Only with the appointment of Malevich to the post of People's Commissar of Fine Arts in 1929 did his paintings become widely known and popular. Thus, the artist in literally forced recognition of his creativity, even through abuse of official position.

Theory #4: Challenge to Religion

The reason for this opinion was the location of the painting. The exhibition included 49 works by the artist, and the famous “Black Square” was part of a triptych, which also included a circle and a cross. At the same time, the painting hung in the “red corner”, where, according to Orthodox customs, the icon was located. All critics paid attention to this moment, which is why they called “Black Square” a new icon of the coming century. It is known that Malevich actively supported the ideas of communism and held leadership positions under new government. This is what fully contributed to his popularity.

Theory #5: Mystical insight

The author himself, when asked about the creation of his painting, answered that he acted unconsciously, almost in a trance. Whether this is actually true is unknown, but most people agree that there is some mysterious attraction in this work. Many see other figures in the depths, and none of them are painted black. In addition, especially impressionable people feel bad next to the canvas and experience attacks of panic and causeless fear. Affirm the mystical origins of creation and secret meaning, which means Malevich’s “Black Square” is very difficult, but to attribute everything to psychological impact, described earlier, is much more reasonable. It’s not for nothing that many people admire this canvas, but it can’t be an ordinary square!

Interestingly, “Black Square” is essentially a misnomer. The shape of the displayed geometric figure is incorrect, because neither side is parallel to the opposite. In addition, when painting the picture, black was not used at all. The required shade was obtained by mixing paints of different tones. That is why the effect of craquelure (the top cracked layer of paint) is clearly visible on the canvas, under which multi-colored stripes are visible.

Interesting fact about the “Black Square”:

It is known that Malevich was far from the first artist to position such minimalism in art. Several authors can be named as pioneers:

Robert Fludd painted the painting “The Great Darkness” in 1617, which is also made in the form of a black square.
In 1843, the work “View of La Hogue (night effect)” by the artist Bertal appeared.
In 1854 - “The Twilight History of Russia.”

Predecessors can also be called the humorous sketches “Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement,” dated 1882, and its outright parody “Battle of Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night” (1893). An equally interesting opus was the creation of the canvas “Philosophers catch a cat in dark room" by French journalist Alphonse Allais (1893). As you can already guess, all the canvases described above are a black rectangle.

Where is Malevich’s “Black Square” now?

The original painting has changed many owners, but now belongs to the Tretyakov Gallery Foundation. It was bought and transferred into ownership by an influential and very rich Russian philanthropist. It is believed that the cost of the canvas was $1 million. How much does Malevich's "Black Square" cost? According to international auction Sotheby's cost is more than 20 million, but its artistic value simply immeasurable.

By the way, in total Kazimir Malevich created four paintings of the “Black Square”.

1. This is not"Black square", A"Black square on a white background"

And this is important. This fact is worth remembering like the Pythagorean theorem: it is unlikely to be useful in life, but not knowing it is somehow indecent.

K. Malevich “Black square on a white background.” 1915 Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery

2. It's not a square

At first, the artist called his painting “Quadrangle,” which is confirmed by linear geometry: there are no right angles, the sides are not parallel to each other, and the lines themselves are uneven. Thus he created a movable form. Although, of course, he knew how to use a ruler.

3. Why did Malevich draw a square?

In his memoirs, the artist writes that he did this unconsciously. However, the development of artistic thought can be traced through his paintings.

Malevich worked as a draftsman. It is not surprising that at first he was fascinated by Cubism with its correct forms. For example, the painting from 1914 is “Composition with Gioconda”. Black and white rectangles are already appearing here.

On the left – Kazimir Malevich “Composition with Mona Lisa”. On the right is Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, aka “La Gioconda”

Then, when creating the scenery for the opera “Victory over the Sun,” the idea of a square as an independent element appeared. However, the painting “Black Square” appeared only two years later.

4. Why square?

Malevich believed that the square is the basis of all forms. If you follow the artist’s logic, the circle and the cross are already secondary elements: the rotation of the square forms a circle, and the movement of white and black planes forms a cross.

The paintings “Black Circle” and “Black Cross” were painted simultaneously with “Black Square”. Together they formed the basis of a new artistic system, but the dominance has always been behind the square.

“Black Square” – “Black Circle” – “Black Cross”

5. Why is the square black?

For Malevich, black is a mixture of all existing colors, while white is the absence of any color. Although, this completely contradicts the laws of optics. Everyone remembers how they told us at school that black color absorbs the rest, and white connects the entire spectrum. And then we did experiments with lenses, looking at the resulting rainbow. But with Malevich it’s the other way around.

6. What is Suprematism and how to understand it?

Malevich founded a new direction in art in the mid-1910s. He called it Suprematism, which means “supreme” in Latin. That is, in his opinion, this trend should have become the pinnacle of all creative searches artists.

Suprematism is easy to recognize: various geometric figures combined into one dynamic, usually asymmetrical composition.

K. Malevich “Suprematism”. 1916
An example of one of the artist's many Suprematist compositions.

What does it mean? Such forms are usually perceived by the viewer as children's multi-colored cubes scattered on the floor. Agree, you can’t draw the same trees and houses for two thousand years. Art must find new forms of expression. And they are not always clear to ordinary people. For example, the paintings of the Little Dutch were once revolutionary and deeply conceptual. In still lifes, objects showed life philosophy. However, now they are perceived rather as beautiful pictures, modern viewer just doesn't think about it deep meaning works.

Jan Davids de Heem "Breakfast with fruit and lobster." Second quarter of the 17th century.
Each element in Dutch still lifes carries a certain symbolic meaning. For example, lemon is a symbol of moderation.

This harmonious system collapses when meeting the avant-garde paintings. The system “beautiful - not beautiful”, “realistic - not realistic” does not work here. The viewer has to think what these strange lines and circles on the canvas could mean. Although, in fact, there is no less meaning in lemons in Dutch still lifes, it’s just that museum visitors are not forced to figure it out. In 20th-century paintings, you must immediately understand the idea of a work of art, which is much more difficult.

7. Was it really only Malevich who was so smart?

Malevich was not the first artist who began to create such paintings. Many masters of France, England and Russia were close to comprehending non-objective art. Thus, Mondrian in 1913–1914 created geometric compositions, and the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint painted so-called color diagrams.

Hilma af Klint. From the series SUW (Stars and Universe). 1914 – 1915.

However, it was from Malevich that geometry acquired a clear philosophical overtones. His idea clearly followed from the previous artistic movement - cubism, where objects are divided into geometric shapes, and each of them is painted separately. They stopped depicting Suprematism original form, artists switched to pure geometry.

Pablo Picasso "Three Women". 1908
An example of cubism. Here the artist does not yet abandon the prototype form - human body. The figures look like the work of a sculptor-carpenter, who seemed to have created his work with an axe. Each “cut” of the sculpture is painted with a shade of red and does not go beyond the boundaries.

8. How can a square be movable?

Despite its external static nature, this painting is considered one of the most dynamic in the history of the Russian avant-garde.

According to the artist, the black square symbolizes pure form, and White background- infinite space. Malevich used the adjective “dynamic” to show that this form is in space. It's like a planet in the universe.

So the background and form are inseparable from each other: Malevich wrote that “the most important thing in Suprematism is two foundations - the energy of black and white, which serve to reveal the form of action.” (Malevich K. Collected works in 5 volumes. M., 1995. Volume 1. P. 187)

9. Why does “Black Square” have two dates of creation?

The canvas was created in 1915, although the author himself back side wrote 1913. This was done, apparently, to bypass its competitors and establish primacy in the creation of Suprematist compositions. In fact, in 1913, the artist was designing the opera “Victory over the Sun,” and in his sketches, indeed, there was a black square as a symbol of this victory.

But the idea was realized in painting only in 1915. The painting was presented at the avant-garde exhibition “0, 10”, and the artist placed it in the red corner, a place where icons are usually hung in an Orthodox home. With this step, Malevich proclaimed the significance of the painting and was right: the painting became a turning point in the development of the avant-garde.

Photo taken at the exhibition “0, 10”. "Black Square" hangs in the red corner

10. Why is there a “Black Square” in both the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery?

Malevich addressed the theme of the square several times, since for him it is the most important Suprematist form, after which in order of importance come the circle and the cross.

There are four “Black Squares” in the world, but they are not complete copies of each other. They differ in size, proportions and time of creation.

"Black square". 1923 Kept in the Russian Museum

The second “Black Square” was created in 1923 for the Venice Biennale. Then, in 1929, especially for his personal exhibition the artist creates a third painting. It is believed that the director of the museum asked for it, because the original from 1915 was already covered with a network of cracks and craquelure. The artist did not like the idea, he refused, but then changed his mind. So there is one more square in the world.

"Black square". 1929 Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery

The last repetition was presumably created in 1931. Nobody knew about the existence fourth option until in 1993 a certain citizen came to the Samara branch of Inkombank and left this painting as collateral. The mysterious painting lover was never seen again: he never returned for the canvas. The painting began to belong to the bank. But not for long: he went bankrupt in 1998. The painting was bought and transferred to the Hermitage for storage.

"Black square". Early 1930s. Kept in the Hermitage

Thus, the first painting from 1915 and the third version from 1929 are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, the second version in the Russian Museum, and the last in the Hermitage.

11. How did contemporaries react to “Black Square”?

If there is no longer any hope of understanding Malevich’s work, there is no need to be sad. Even the followers of the Russian avant-garde artist did not fully understand the artist’s deep intentions. The diaries of one of the master’s contemporaries, Vera Pestel, have survived to this day. She writes:

“Malevich wrote just a square and painted it entirely with pink paint, and with another black paint, and then many more squares and triangles different colors. His room was elegant, all colorful, and it was nice for the eye to move from one color to another - all of different geometric shapes. How calm it was to look at the different squares, you didn’t think about anything, you didn’t want anything. The pink color made me happy, and next to it the black color made me happy too. And we liked it. We also became suprematists.” (Malevich about himself. Contemporaries about Malevich. Letters. Documents. Memoirs. Criticism. In 2 volumes. M., 2004. Volume 1. pp. 144-145)

This is the same as saying about still lifes of small Dutchmen - why think about it.

However, there are also more sensible comments. Despite the fact that not everyone understood the philosophical subtext of the painting, its significance was nevertheless appreciated. Andrei Bely said this about Suprematism:

“The history of painting and all these Vrubels in front of such squares are zero!” (Malevich about himself. Contemporaries about Malevich. Letters. Documents. Memoirs. Criticism. In 2 volumes. M., 2004. Volume 1. P. 108).

Alexandre Benois, the founder of the World of Art movement, was extremely outraged by Malevich’s antics, but still understood the significance that the painting had acquired:

“A black square framed in white is the “icon” that gentlemen futurists offer in place of Madonnas and shameless Venuses. Is not simple joke, not a simple challenge, but this is one of the acts of self-affirmation of that principle, which has its name in the abomination of desolation...” (Benoit A. The last futurist exhibition. From “Malevich about himself...” T.2. P.524)

In general, the painting made a double impression on the artist’s contemporaries.

12. Why can’t I draw “Black Square” and become famous?

You can draw, but you won’t be able to become famous. The meaning of modern art is not only to create something completely new, but also to present it correctly.

For example, black squares were painted before Malevich. In 1882, Paul Bealhold created a painting with the politically incorrect title “Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement.” Even earlier, in the 17th century, the English artist Flood painted the canvas “The Great Darkness.” But it was the Russian avant-garde artist who outlined the new philosophy with his painting and exploited it for several decades. Can you do this? Then go ahead.

Robert Flood "The Great Darkness" 1617

Paul Bealhold "Night Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement." 1882

Kazimir Malevich. Black suprematist square. 1915, Moscow.

Everyone has thought about the paradox of Malevich’s “Black Square”.

It's impossible to think of anything simpler. Like a black square. It's impossible to draw anything easier. Like a black square. Nevertheless, it is recognized as a masterpiece.

If it goes to public auction today, they will be ready to buy it for $140 million!

How did this “misunderstanding” arise? The primitive image is recognized as a masterpiece by all art critics around the world. Did they conspire?

Obviously, there is something special in “Black Square”. Invisible to the average viewer. Let's try to discover this “something”.

1. “Black Square” is not as simple as it seems.

It is only at first glance that it seems that anyone could create such a masterpiece. Both the child and the adult without art education.

A child wouldn't have the patience to paint this one with one color. large surface.

But seriously, even an adult could hardly repeat “Black Square”. Because not everything in this picture is so simple.

The black square is NOT actually black

The “black square” is not actually a square. Its sides are NOT equal to each other. And opposite sides are NOT parallel to each other.

Besides, “Black Square” is NOT completely black.

Chemical analysis showed that Malevich used three homemade paints. The first is burnt bone. The second is black ocher. And the third is another natural component... dark green. Malevich also mixed in CHALK. To remove the glossy effect inherent oil paints.

That is, Malevich did not just take the first one he came across black paint and painted over the drawn square. He spent at least a day preparing the paint.

There are four “Black Squares”

If this were a randomly created painting, the artist would not create repetitions of it. Over the next 15 years, he created 3 more “Black Squares”.

If you have seen all 4 paintings (two are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, one in the Russian Museum, one in the Hermitage), then you probably noticed how different they are.

Yes Yes. Despite their simplicity, they are different. The first “Square” of 1915 is considered the most energetically charged. It's all about the successful selection of shades of black and white, as well as the composition of the paints.

All four paintings are not similar in size or color. One of the “Squares” is larger in size (created in 1923, kept in the Russian Museum). The other one is much blacker. It is the most dull and all-consuming in color (also kept in the Tretyakov Gallery).

Below are all four “Squares”. The difference in reproductions is difficult to understand. But suddenly this will inspire you to watch them live.

From left to right: 1.Black square. 1929 79.5 x 79.5 cm. Tretyakov Gallery. 2. Black square. 1930-1932 53.5 x 53.5 cm. 3. Black square. 1923 106 x 106 cm. Russian Museum. 4. Black square. 1915 79.5 x 79.5 cm. Tretyakov Gallery.

“Black Square” closes two more paintings

On the 1915 “Square” you probably noticed cracks (craquelures). The lower paint layer is visible through them. These are the colors of another painting. It was written in a proto-Suprematist style. Something like the painting “The Lady at the Lamp Post”.

Kazimir Malevich. Lady at the lamppost. 1914 Stedelek City Museum, Amsterdam

That's not all. Below it is another image. Already the third in a row. Written in the style of cubo-futurism. This is what this style looks like.

Kazimir Malevich. Grinder. 1912 Art Gallery Yale University, New Haven

That's why craquelures appeared. The paint layer is too thick.

Why such difficulties? As many as three images on one surface!

Perhaps this is an accident. It happens. The artist gets an idea. He wants to express it right away. But you may not have a canvas at hand. But even if there is canvas, it needs to be prepared and primed. Then insignificant pictures come into play. Or which the artist considers unsuccessful.

The result was a sort of picturesque nesting doll. Evolution. From Cubo-Futurism to Cubo-Suprematism and to pure Suprematism in the form of the “Black Square”.

2. Strong theory of strong personality

“Black Square” was created within the framework of a new direction in painting invented by Malevich. Suprematism. “Supreme” means “excellent”. Since the artist considered him highest point development of painting.

This is a whole school. How . Like academicism. Only this school was created by one person. Kazimir Malevich. He attracted many supporters and followers to his side.

Malevich knew how to speak clearly and charismatically about his brainchild. He zealously campaigned for a complete abandonment of figurativeness. That is, from the image of objects and objects. Suprematism is an art that creates, and does not repeat, as the artist said.

If we remove the pathos and look at his theory from the outside, then we cannot help but recognize its greatness. Malevich, as befits a genius, felt which way the wind was blowing.

Time individual perception was ending. What did this mean? Previously, only a select few admired works of art. Those who owned them. Or he could afford to walk to the museum.

Now the century has come popular culture. When simplified forms and pure colors are important. Malevich understood that art should not lag behind. Or maybe even lead this movement.

He invented essentially a new pictorial language. Proportionate to the time to come, which is about to come. And the language has its own alphabet.

The “black square” is the main sign of this alphabet. “Zero forms”, as Malevich said.

Before Malevich, there was another alphabet, invented at the beginning of the 14th century. All art existed according to this alphabet. This is perspective. Volume. Emotional expressiveness.

Giotto. Kiss of Judas. 1303-1305 Fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy

Malevich's language is completely different. Simple color forms. In which color is given a different role. It is not intended to convey nature. And not to create the illusion of volume. It is expressive in its own right.

“Black square” is the main “letter” in the new alphabet. Square because it is the first form. Black color because it absorbs all colors.

Together with the “Black Square” Malevich creates the “Black Cross” and “Black Circle”. Simple elements. But they are also derivatives of the black square.

A circle appears if the square is rotated on a plane. The cross consists of several squares.

Paintings by K. Malevich. Left: Black cross. 1915 Center Pompidou, Paris. Right: Black circle. 1923 Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

Paintings by K. Malevich. Left: Black square and red square. 1915 Museum of Modern Art, New York. Middle: Suprematist composition. 1916 Private collection. Right: Suprematism. 1916 Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

Malevich painted in the style of Suprematism for several years. And then the incredible happened. He denied figurativeness for so long that... he returned to it.

This could be seen as inconsistency. Like, they “played” with a beautiful theory and that’s enough.

In fact, the language he created was hungry for use. Applications in the world of form and nature. And Malevich obediently returned to this world. But he portrayed it using the new language of Suprematism.

Paintings by Kazimir Malevich. Left: Athletes. 1932 Russian Museum. Middle: Red House. 1932 Ibid. Right: Girl with a comb in her hair. 1934 Tretyakov Gallery

So “Black Square” is not the end of art. How it is sometimes referred to. This is the beginning of a new art.

Then it came new stage. Language wanted to serve people. And he passed into our lives.

Test yourself: take the online test

3. Huge impact on living space

Having created Suprematism, Malevich did everything to prevent it from gathering dust in museums. And he went to the masses.

He drew sketches of dresses. But during his lifetime he was able to “put them on” only on the heroes of his paintings.

Kazimir Malevich. Portrait of the artist's wife. 1934. Wikiart.org

He also painted porcelain. Created designs for fabrics.

Left: a service from the Leningrad Porcelain Factory, created according to Malevich’s sketches (1922). Right: sample of fabric with a drawing by Malevich (1919)

Malevich’s supporters began to speak the language of the “Black Square”. The most famous of them is El Lissitzky. Who invented printing fonts, as well as new book designs.

He was inspired by the theory of Suprematism and Malevich’s “Black Square”.

El Lissitzky. Cover of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s book “Good!” 1927

Designing books like this seems natural to us. But only because Malevich’s style has firmly entered our lives.

Our contemporaries, designers, architects and fashion designers do not hide the fact that all their lives they have drawn inspiration from the works of Malevich. Among them is one of the most famous architects, Zaha Hadid (1950-2016).

Left: Dominion Tower. Architect: Zaha Hadid. Construction 2005-2015 Moscow (metro station Dubrovka). In the center: Table “Malevich”. Alberto Lievore. 2016 Spain. Right: Gabrielo Colangelo. Collection spring-summer 2013

4. Why “Black Square” is puzzling. And why is it still a masterpiece?

Almost every viewer tries to understand Malevich using the familiar language of natural images. The same one that Giotto invented and which was developed

Many people try to evaluate “Black Square” using inappropriate criteria. Like it or not. Beautiful - not beautiful. Realistic - not realistic.

Awkwardness sets in. Discouragement. Because “Black Square” remains deaf to such assessments. What remains? Only condemn or ridicule.

Daub. Nonsense. “A child can draw better” or “I can draw that too” and so on.

Then it will become clear why this is a masterpiece. It is impossible to evaluate “Black Square” on its own. But only together with the space it serves.

PS.

Malevich was famous during his lifetime. But he did not receive any material benefit from this. Going to an exhibition in Paris in 1929, he asked the authorities to let him go there... on foot. Because he didn’t have money for the trip.

The authorities realized that Comrade Malevich, who came to Europe on his own two feet, would undermine their authority. Therefore, 40 rubles were allocated for the trip.

True, after 2 weeks he was urgently called back by telegram. And upon arrival he was immediately arrested. By denunciation. Like a German spy.

In contact with

I really love this question!

As always, I’ll start from afar))

The answer to the question about the “Black Square” is somewhat deeper than it might seem.

First, you need to plunge into the history of art, namely at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. So, the Impressionists, they were the first to declare and began to depict the world around, not as the academicians did, but as they saw it: with the play of light and shadow, with a non-classical composition, with a completely different approach to depicting the world.

It was the impressionists who served Starting point for contemporary art. Next came the Post-Impressionists, who continued to experiment, first of all with color (for example, the Fauvists, represented by Henri Matisse) and then with the shape of objects (for example, the Cubists, represented by Pablo Picasso).

All these experiments simplified the depicted objects as much as possible (but by no means in a bad sense of the word). This was all a kind of normal evolution of painting and art in general; it was quite logical that after many thousands of centuries, starting from ancient art, by disassembling the depicted object into its component parts, shape, color and line, art will come to the basis of the foundations of everything - to the black square.

Let's return to Art History, the Cubists - they dismantled the world into simple shapes, the basis of their art is the totality simple basics(sphere, cone, cylinder). These figures form the basis of any still life and nature in general. Cubism is the study of form and its emotional content. In the works of Henri Matisse we see the beauty of color, form and ornament. In his works big role paid attention to lines and rhythm.

Futurists go in parallel with cubism and fauvism. The latter were characterized by the theme of the speed of time. Look at the works of Umberto Boccioni, his works are reminiscent of “the view from the window of a passing train.” In 1905, the first Futurist exhibition took place, at which the Manifesto was announced, they said that they were clearing the way for a new perception of time. They destroyed everything that existed (in art) so that new, future artists could come.

A little later (1915), but almost in parallel, constructivists began to appear and develop. A prominent representative of the constructivists was Rodchenko - he was fond of pure form (this was especially at its peak, since the revolution ended in Russia, everything was permeated with a new, pure form, new life).

BUT all of the above artists are looking for themselves on the “base” of the old arts. And now we come to the most interesting, at the same time a group of artists begins to form, which has found absolutely new way– This is Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich. The first in his innovative ideas was Wassily Kandinsky, with his theory abstract art, color and movement without plot or illustrations, harmony and dynamics due to color spots and lines. The artist’s emotion is directly transmitted to the viewer. Look at his work and you will immediately understand everything.

By 1915, Kazimir Malevich created the theory of new art. A little earlier, Wassily Kandinsky created his theory of absolute art. His main idea is color and movement without plot or illustrations, a balance of harmony and dynamics, his works are color spots and lines. In this way, the artist’s emotion is directly transmitted to the viewer, without any retelling or distortion.

K. Malevich's idea was somewhat similar to Kandinsky, but still different. K. Malevich and Suprematism is a very clear idea, art goes through stages of maturation and reaches the pure form of Suprematism. Malevich called this path “From Fauvism and Cubism to Suprematism.” The idea of Suprematism is a return to the beginning of art, to the origins of color and form, a complete departure from imagery (this is similar to Kandinsky). According to the theory of Suprematism, there are 3 forms: square, circle and cross, triangle only within the composition. Pure colors: black, white, red, blue and yellow. The famous “Black Square” is the idea of concentration of Suprematism.

Kazimir Malevich with the idea of Suprematism - in his theory, art goes through stages of maturation, reaching the pure form of Suprematism. Returning to the beginning of art - the origin of color and form. Harmony, proportions, rhythm combined with simple colors, an absolutely complete departure from illustration.

The black square is the concentration of the idea of suprimatism. Black color – macro/micro space, reference point. Malevich’s art fit perfectly into the new Soviet life. This is a completely different art, it is very philosophical, a theory is written to understand and explain it. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to consider the Black Square without any context and consider this image primitive. To understand it, you need to study all past eras and then everything will become logical and understandable.

Kazimir Malelevich was an innovator, and at the beginning of the 20th century. His theses and art were something incredible. Art cannot be viewed from the position of “and I can draw like that...” Malevich was the first with his Manifesto, and that is why he is an innovator. He has other works where it is clear that he is truly an artist. A certain turning point began to occur at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, the main thing became not art and aesthetics, but the concept, and even those who did not really know how to draw began to call themselves artists.... But time passed, and artists were again in demand, capable of creating a canvas of amazing beauty, and at the same time, these same artists can create something simple, write a concept and it will be brilliant.

Kazimir Malevich presented his famous “Black Square” in 1915 at an exhibition called “0 10”. The black square is a manifesto, it is a new art. Malevich reduced all the art of past eras to zero and took a completely different path. Suprematism is translated as higher/overcoming - these adjectives can also characterize Malevich’s work. It is worth noting that Malevich deliberately hung his square at the exhibition in the red corner; in Russian houses the icon always hung in this place.