Kazimir Malevič meets Icon Painting

“The square is a living, regal infant. The first step of pure creation in art. Before it, there were naive distortions and copies of nature. Our world of art has become new, nonobjective, pure. Everything has disappeared […]. In the art of suprematism, forms will live, like all living forms of nature. These forms announce that man has attained his equilibrium […].”

From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism, 1915

This is how Kasimir Malevič (1879 – 1935), the Ukrainian artist who after experimenting with different styles including Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism, arrived at the crucial notion that art should bee free from the restrictions of figurative tradition. By publishing his manifesto titled From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism in 1915, Malevič changed the aim of art, departing from the attempt to represent visible reality and moving forwards until conceiving the foundations of Suprematism, changing art’s direction towards the depiction of supreme reality. This means that the artist is trying to reach an immaterial world, “achiev[ing] total simplicity”, as Zaha Hadid stated at the opening of the exhibition Malevič, Revolutionary of Russian Art at Tate Modern in London (16 July – 26 October 2014).

According to Malevič, art and nature should be considered as two separate beings. While choosing abstract art, the artist becomes a fundamental pillar for Russian avant-garde, with Suprematism representing one of the many other movements born in these turbulent first decades of the 20th Century. In such a short time frame, Malevič experienced some of the main events in Russian history including the end of the Tsarist Empire, the First World War and the October Revolution. It is worth emphasising that the Silver age of Russian culture flourished in the last years of the previous Century, suggesting the great impact of the revolution that Malevič introduced in art, proving the dominant role owned by colour and shape.

The famous oil on linen Black Square (1915) was first presented at The Last Futurist Exhibition 0,10 held in the Dobychina Art Bureau at Marsovo Pole, Petrograd (today’s Saint Petersburg). It was defined by the artist himself “the end and the beginning”. The artwork was displayed at the top corner of the room, the spot which in a traditional Russian household would be held for the ‘Krásnyj úgol’ (Кра́сный у́гол in Russian). This word means ‘beautiful corner’ and according to the Eastern Orthodox tradition, it was the worship place for the icon, a religious representation considered as an object of devotion rather than a work of art. Malevič’s choice of placing the Black Square at the designated spot for the religious part of the house was harshly criticized because it was thought to represent an act of blasphemy. Therefore, the founder of Suprematism decides to challenge the old icon, a key symbol of Russian culture, through a total refusal of the past and the Orthodox religion. Malevič’s revolutionary painting becomes charged with a type of symbolism that leads to the prevalence of concept over the execution process.

The Sick Man, Vasili Maximov,1881, Oil on canvas, Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow)
The ‘Krásnyj úgol’ (‘beautiful corner’) can be seen in front of the woman kneeling in prayer

“In the year of 1913, trying desperately to free art from the dead weight of the real world, I took refuge in the form of the square.”

Kasimir Malevič, 1915

The most famous Russian icon is Andrei Rublev’s The Trinity (Троица in Russian) and it dates back to the 1420s. It is currently held at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Here we can see a scene from the Old Testament; the three angels represent the three appearances of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The style is far from realistic and the use of reverse perspective – also called Byzantine perspective – contrasts with the dominating linear perspective in the West. Hence, Rublev confers a symmetrical image by placing the objects between the projective point and the viewing plane. Another peculiarity of Andrei Rublev is that he signed his artworks, something that was highly unusual in the 15th Century because artists were still considered as craftsmen instead of intellectuals. It is striking how the Byzantine influence changed the canons of beauty in Russian art; in fact, if you look closely, the traits of the angels are closer to the Eastern rather than the Slavonic notions of perfection.

The Trinity, Andrei Rublev, 1425–27, Tempera, Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow)

In conclusion, Kasimir Malevič made the bold choice of reinterpreting a sacred symbol of Russian culture by deciding to substitute the image of a saint with a black irregular square. Since then, art pushed the boundaries of form and tradition in unexpected ways.

Published by Belen De Bacco

Co-founder, editor and manager of Art Gate blog. 3rd-year History of Art and English Literature student at the University of Glasgow. Currently volunteering at the Hunterian Art Gallery and creating online content for the initiative #MuseumFromHome.