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1878, Kiev - 1935, Leningrad

Black Circle

Circa 1923

  • oil on canvas. 105,5 х 106
  • Ж-9472

  • Received in 1936


Kazimir Malevich employs the simplest geometric figures to construct a new reality, which does not have anything in common with nature, where the most important thing is the relationship between time and space. Malevich’s painterly formulae are born in these combined forms as the basic principles of the language of his art. These formulae had a sacred meaning in the artist’s consciousness akin to that of a medieval alchemist. The initial version of Black Square was first shown at the 0.10. Last Futurist Exhibition in Petrograd (1915). It was hung in the right corner of the hall, where icons are traditionally hung in Orthodox homes. Malevich’s «icon» in this way became a symbol of the new era. The artist himself called the work «a bare icon without a frame.» During Malevich’s lifetime, Black Square became a specific symbol of both his art and the Suprematist movement. Russian Museum: From Icons to the Modern Times. Palace Editions, St Petersburg, 2015. P. 333.


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