Kazimir Malevich

Kazimir Malevich

Childhood and early training

Kazimir Malevich was born in Ukraine to Polish parents. His parents were looking for work, so they moved continuously within the Russian empire. 

His father found a job in a sugar factory and also a railway construction. Malevich worked in railway construction too in the early days. Malevich started drawing on his own without any support from the family when he was 12 years old. From a very young age, he wanted to pursue a career in arts and become an artist. In his youth, Malevich attended several art schools. At first, he started at the Kyiv School of Art in 1895.

In 1904 Malevich shifted to Moscow for admission in the Stroganov School of Art. There he took privates classes from Ivan Rerberg as well. Malevich continued his training in Painting, Moscow, where he learned sculpture, architecture, where artists like Leonid and Konstantin taught him about impressionism and post-impressionism techniques. 

Mature period

Malevich's around 1907 avant-garde technique was seen when he met some artists such as David Burliuk, Wassily, and Mikhail. Most of the artwork of Malevich from that time focused on peasant life. 

Between 1912 and 1913, Malevich worked in a Cubo-futurist style. He also took part in an artist collaboration of modern times. The October revolution in 1917 opened opportunities for Malevich. He joined as an employee in the Fine Arts Department of the People's Commissariat for Enlightenment. The work of this agency was to look after museums and administer art education in the soviet republic. Malevich was also a teacher at the Free Arts Studio in Moscow, and in the same year, Malevich designed decorations for the celebration of the communist revolution. 

Malevich completed his new book "On New Systems in Art" in 1919, in which he applied the theoretical approach of suprematism and encouraging Avant-garde art in service of the people. Malevich was also known as the leader of the Vitebsk school and continued to implement his ideas in architectural models. Malevich was allowed to show these models in an exhibition in Germany and Poland. This model took an interest in the work of local artists and intellectuals. Before leaving Germany, Malevich left some of his models, paintings, and theoretical texts. 

Late years and death

Malevich's works were in trouble due to socio-cultural situations. Malevich was arrested in 1930 and questioned about ideologies when he came from a trip to the west. Due to this, the friends of Malevich burned down some of his writings. In 1931 a huge exhibition took place for the 15th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, and Malevich was also a part of that. But his paintings were labeled as anti-soviet and degenerate. He was barred from the schools and exhibitions as well, and in his final years, he returned to his styles, which were genre scenes and peasant scenes. 

He was also painting portraits of his family and friends. Malevich was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1935. 

He was buried in a coffin designed by him; the coffin had an image of a black square placed on its lid. There are only a few artworks of Malevich available in America. 

Legacy of Malevich

Malevich had a huge influence on the later artist of Europe and mostly in the United States. Malevich's works represent spirituality, technology, and universality. The first director of the New York museum bought a huge collection of Malevich's works. Malevich also inspired many generations of abstract artists; his influence was extreme among the Russian avant-garde.