home
Psychology of stress
Malevich's black square below. "Malevich's black square

Malevich's black square below. "Malevich's black square

10.07.2019

Have you ever wondered why Kazimir Malevich's painting "Black Square" is so expensive? Recall that according to Sotheby's, the cost of the painting today is estimated at $ 20 million. It seems absurd that a simple geometric figure depicted on a canvas can cost anything at all, but the art world has its own laws. For the artist himself, the square has become a comprehensive and universal new world that was supposed to replace the old world.

Malevich is not the first to sketch the canvas. So Robert Flood painted his painting "The Great Darkness" back in 1617, that is, almost 300 years before Malevich. It depicts the biblical Chaos. Paintings of 1882 "Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement" and several similar ones are also a square that occupies the entire canvas. So what is the originality of Malevich? In the absence of a plot. There are subtexts in Flood's "Great Darkness" and the rest are just jokes and gags. But Malevich was not a joker. His canvas is called what it is - a square.

Malevich created the "Black Square" not because he could not draw, as some half-jokingly say so far. He had canvases in impressionism, portraits and many other works. As an artist, he had good technique and he deliberately abandoned it. It's actually big for an artist. And this is the first reason why the painting "Black Square" has such an exorbitant price.

The era that gave rise to the black square

In 1913, the first All-Russian Congress of Futurists took place. From left to right: Kruchenykh, Malevich, Matyushin.

At the beginning of the 20th century, revolution was everywhere. In physics came Einstein, in psychology Sigmund Freud (we already have the relevant material), in philosophy Friedrich Nietzsche. They shamelessly destroyed old ideals and erected new ones. A revolution was also brewing in art. In 1913, the first All-Russian Congress of Futurists took place at which only 3 people met: composer Mikhail Matyushin, Kazimir Malevich and poet Alexei Kruchenykh. They even came up with a special term that characterizes their "movement" - buddlyane. From the word "will". Their goal was to destroy worthless art and create a new one in its place. The first thing they did was their own opera "Victory over the Sun". Matyushin wrote the music with the noise and sounds of the street, and Kruchenykh wrote the text written in his own language. Malevich, on the other hand, came up with the scenery, costumes and decorated the curtain with a half square on a white background. Thus, Suprematism was born. Art that tries with all its might to get away from nature.

The first exhibition of Suprematism "010".

Two years later, the first exhibition of Suprematism took place, which was called "010". On the night before the opening, Malevich did not sleep. He personally hung 39 paintings and did not want anyone to see them. He wanted to crush the viewer and he succeeded. They entered the hall and saw "this": no portraits, no landscapes, only rectangles, circles and other geometry. And in the corner near the ceiling, where the icon is usually hung, there is a square. The place of the sacred image was taken by absolute non-objectivity - emptiness. It was like a kick in the balls to the imperial state, because at that time it loved such artists as Vasnetsov with his Russian mythological subjects made in a realistic style, while Malevich had completely different subjects.

A little more than a year remained before the fall of the autocracy in Russia and the revolution of 1917. What's next? What to expect in the future? Nobody could say this. Unknown. Black. From the "red corner" at the Malevich exhibition, the future itself was looking at people. Malevich's square is not entirely correct to perceive as a picture. It's more of a performance, or rather a part of a performance. This is a kind of prophecy and fixation of a turning point in culture and history, and this is another factor that influenced the assessment of the canvas in modern times. And when one of your friends, when you are discussing Malevich's square, asks what is the point, then you can tell your friends that this painting is not correctly perceived out of context.

The picture of the square did not let go of Malevich. With this image, he could no longer part. It was his pinnacle of creativity and he returned to it every time in search of inspiration. He wrote as many as three squares.

Four versions of the painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch

“For a long time I could neither eat nor sleep, and I myself did not understand what I had done,” said Malevich himself. Pure color is almost never found in nature. it is the absence of light. Thus, Malevich, as it were, went to zero. Started art from scratch. This is similar to the story of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. He constantly made copies of his painting "The Scream" because he valued it the most. Today it is Munch's most expensive painting and one of the most expensive paintings in general. It's the same with the square. The choice of the artist himself makes the picture more expensive.

The fate of Kazimir Malevich

Funeral of Kazimir Malevich. The last show of the master.

Beginning in the 1930s, Malevich and the state had very tense relations. The authorities wanted realistic images in socialist realism, but the artist’s paintings did not correspond to this in any way. He was arrested twice on charges of anti-government activities, but released when notes of protest were sent to the USSR government. For the 1932 exhibition, Malevich paints the last square, but when exactly he painted it, we probably will not know, since on all the canvases he recorded not the time of painting the picture, but the time when the idea came to him. The first square is dated the 13th year, but most likely it was written in the 15th. The idea for the author was much more important than its actual implementation.

Well, the last factor that influenced the cost of the painting is its participation in the last show of the master - in his funeral. At a civil memorial service in Leningrad, a square hung on the wall. The artist's body was covered with canvas with a square sewn on it. the square was on the roof of the coffin from the side of the head. He was transported by a truck

There are works of art that everyone knows. For the sake of these paintings, tourists stand in long lines in any weather, and then, getting inside, they simply take a selfie in front of them. However, if you ask a tourist who has strayed from the group why he is so eager to look at the masterpiece, he is unlikely to explain why he suffered, pushed and suffered with the focal length. Often the fact is that due to the constant informational noise around a particular work, its very essence is forgotten. Our task in the rubric "Great and incomprehensible" is to remember why everyone should go to the Hermitage, the Louvre and the Uffizi.

The first painting in our section was Kazimir Malevich's Black Square. It is perhaps the most famous and controversial work of Russian art, and at the same time the most recognizable in the West. So, in London there is now a large-scale exhibition dedicated to the artist's work. The main exhibit was, of course, the Black Square. It can even be argued that European critics associate Russian art not with Karl Bryullov and Ilya Repin, but with Malevich. At the same time, unfortunately, few visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery or the Hermitage can clearly say why this painting is so famous. Today we will try to fix it.

Kazimir Malevich (1879 - 1935) "Self-portrait". 1933

1. It's 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 it is somehow indecent not to know it.

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 "Quadrangular", 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 the ruler.

3. Why did Malevich draw a square?

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

Malevich worked as a draftsman. It is not surprising that at first he was fascinated by cubism with its regular forms. For example, the picture of 1914 is “Composition with Mona Lisa”. Black and white rectangles already appear here.

Left - Kazimir Malevich "Composition with Mona Lisa". On the right - Leonardo da Vinci "Mona Lisa", she is "Gioconda"

Then, when creating 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 a square?

Malevich believed that the square is the basis of all forms. If you follow the logic of the artist, 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 - a cross.

The paintings "Black Circle" and "Black Cross" were painted simultaneously with the "Black Square". All together they formed the basis of a new artistic system, but the dominance was always 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 is completely contrary to the laws of optics. Everyone remembers how they told at school that black absorbs the rest, and white connects the entire spectrum. And then we did experiments with lenses, looking at the resulting rainbow. But with Malevich, the opposite is true.

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 "the highest" in Latin. That is, in his opinion, this trend should have become the pinnacle of all creative searches for artists.

Suprematism is easy to recognize: various geometric shapes are 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 across the floor. Agree, you can not 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 canvases of the Little Dutchmen were once revolutionary and deeply conceptual. Life philosophy was displayed through objects on still lifes. However, now they are perceived rather as beautiful pictures, the modern viewer simply does not think about the deep meaning of the works.

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

This coherent system collapses upon acquaintance with the paintings of the avant-garde artists. 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 can mean. Although, in fact, there is no less sense in lemons in Dutch still lifes, just museum visitors are not forced to solve it. In the paintings of the 20th century, one must immediately understand the idea of a work of art, which is much more difficult.

7. Was it only Malevich who was so smart?

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

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

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

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

8. How can a square be movable?

Despite the outward static character, this picture is considered one of the most dynamic in the history of the Russian avant-garde.

As conceived by the artist, the black square symbolizes pure form, while the white background symbolizes 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 creation dates?

The canvas was created in 1915, although the author himself wrote 1913 on the reverse side. This was done, apparently, in order to get around their competitors and assert the primacy in the creation of the Suprematist composition. In fact, in 1913 the artist was engaged in the design of the opera "Victory over the Sun", and in his sketches, indeed, there was a black square as a symbol of this victory.

But in painting, the idea was embodied only in 1915. The painting was presented at the avant-garde exhibition "0, 10", and the artist placed it in the red corner, the place where icons usually hang in an Orthodox house. With this step, Malevich proclaimed the significance of the canvas and turned out to be 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 several times addressed the theme of the square, 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 Stored in the Russian Museum

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

"Black square". 1929 Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery

The last repetition was supposedly created in 1931. No one knew about the existence of the fourth option, until in 1993 a certain citizen came to the Samara branch of Inkombank and left this picture on bail. The mysterious lover of painting was never seen again: he never returned for the canvas. The painting became owned by the bank. But not for long: he went bankrupt in 1998. The painting was bought and transferred to the Hermitage for safekeeping.

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

So, the first painting of 1915 and the third version of 1929 are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, the second version is in the Russian Museum, and the last one is in the Hermitage.

11. How did contemporaries react to the "Black Square"?

If there is no longer any hope for understanding Malevich's work, do not be sad. Even the followers of the Russian avant-garde artist did not fully understand the deep intention of the artist. The diaries of one of the master's contemporaries, Vera Pestel, have survived to our time. She writes:

“Malevich simply painted a square and painted it all over with pink paint, and with another black paint, and then many more squares and triangles of different colors. His room was smart, all motley, and it was good for the eye to move from one color to another - all of different geometric shapes. How calm it was to look at different squares, nothing was thought, nothing was wanted. The pink color was pleasing, and next to it, black was also pleasing. 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. P. 144-145)

It's like saying about the still lifes of the small Dutch - why think about it.

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

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

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

“The black square in a white frame is the “icon” that the futurists offer instead of Madonnas and shameless Venuses. This is not a simple joke, not a simple challenge, but this is one of the acts of self-affirmation of that beginning, which has its name in the abomination of desolation ... ". (Benoit A. The last futuristic exhibition. From "Malevich about himself ...". V.2. P.524)

In general, the picture 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 contemporary art is not only to create something completely new, but also to present it correctly.

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

Robert Flood "The Great Darkness" 1617.

Paul Bielhold "Negro Night Fight in the Basement". 1882

Early 20th century, France. World War I. Scientific and technical progress. In such a radical time, avant-gardism appears - a set of trends that change the essence of art radically, produce a revolution in it, while simultaneously encroaching on a complete change of traditions in society. The avant-garde reaches its climax in Russia through abstractionism.

Abstractionism is an avant-garde trend, the most controversial among the rest. Henri Matisse, a French painter and sculptor, once said a phrase that became the key to understanding impressionism and avant-garde together: "Accuracy is not yet true".

To explain abstractionism briefly, it is painting without recognizable images. It can be color and geometric, and strives for a certain idea - the liberation of color and form from substantive validity, motivation. It is enough to look around and understand that abstraction is everywhere. Clear blue sky. We look up and see only color. Sunset. Highlights and shadows are color and geometry. Sea. Forest. Even wallpaper, table. All this is an abstraction.

Classical artists, like Ilya Repin and Ivan Shishkin, attracted color and geometry to the world of things, depicted them in objects, objects. Abstract painting is created according to a different principle, according to the principle of harmonizing color and form as they are.

It all started with Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, we will talk about them today.

In 1910 Kandinsky painted a picture « Cossacks » . Before abstractionism remains half a step.

Later, Kandinsky decides, on the example of this plot motif, to finally break away from imagery and paints a picture « Improvisation 26 » . He not only removes the image of the Cossacks, the house, the rainbow, but also removes the label from the picture - now these are not Cossacks, this is just improvisation. There are no hints of who and what may be in the picture.

The title is now blurry, the categories are also blurry. Why is this happening? Because the name usually makes it difficult to understand the picture, prompts the search for images, associations. And the abstract artist is trying to get away from figurativeness. You just need to see the color.

Kandinsky wrote a brochure "On the Spiritual in Art", after reading which, abstractionism, as a phenomenon, will become more understandable.

Malevich called abstractionism in his own way - Suprematism (from Latin supremus - « highest"). Before the famous "Black Square" he went by minimizing objects in his paintings.

79.5 cm by 79.5 cm is an absolute square. Malevich's painting is an icon of the avant-garde.

The biggest mistake in dealing with this painting is that we look at it with the eyes that we look at the paintings of William Turner or Theodore Géricault (approx. artists of the Romantic era). « Black Square” is not a painting, it is a manifesto enclosed in the form of a black square. Here the act of the artist should be admired - that he called it a painting in 1915. After all, he painted absolutely nothing. The main thing is neither color, nor paint, nor drawing, but the idea is the disintegration of traditional art. « Black Square sobered the minds of artists and rebooted art.

By the way, music also has a kind of "Black Square" - this is a famous piece of the 20th century, which was written by John Cage and called "4:33". He went on stage, announced the work, sat down and was silent for exactly 4 minutes 33 seconds. Many people think that this is a hymn to silence, but it is not. “4:33” is the natural sound of the surrounding world, the sound in its purest form, since the silence in the hall was constantly interrupted by rustling and coughing, some kind of creaking, and even breathing. Cage thus told people that the sound should not add up to a melody.

The art of abstractionism is quite difficult to perceive, since very often you can hear exclamations from the series: “I can also draw just a black square!”. Yes, they can, but at that time Malevich took a huge and bold step forward by calling his ill-fated “Black Square” a painting. It was a breakthrough, no one had done this before. In the "Black Square" you should not look for a deep philosophical meaning. It's just "not a picture" that turned the world of art upside down, revolutionized and led a new generation of artists.

10 meanings of the "Black Square"

Is the famous painting by Kazimir Malevich a quackery or an encrypted philosophical message?

On December 5, the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg opens the exhibition “Kazimir Malevich. Before and after the square. The famous painting divided into two segments not only the life of the artist, but also all contemporary art.

On the one hand, you don't have to be a great artist to draw a black square on a white background. Yes, anyone can do it! But here's the mystery: The Black Square is the most famous painting in the world. Almost 100 years have passed since its writing, and disputes and heated discussions do not stop.

Why is this happening? What is the true meaning and value of Malevich's "Black Square"?

"Black square" is a dark rectangle

Let's start with the fact that the "Black Square" is not at all black and not at all square: none of the sides of the quadrangle is parallel to any of its other sides, and to none of the sides of the square frame that frames the picture. And the dark color is the result of mixing various colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the negligence of the author, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form.

Kazimir Malevich "Black Suprematist Square", 1915

"Black Square" is a failed picture

For the futuristic exhibition "0.10", which opened in St. Petersburg on December 19, 1915, Malevich had to paint several paintings. Time was running out, and the artist either did not have time to complete the painting for the exhibition, or was not satisfied with the result and, in a rush, covered it over by drawing a black square. At that moment, one of his friends entered the studio and, seeing the picture, shouted “Brilliant!”. After that, Malevich decided to take the opportunity and came up with some higher meaning for his “Black Square”.

Hence the effect of cracked paint on the surface. No mysticism, just the picture did not work out.

Repeated attempts were made to examine the canvas in order to find the original version under the top layer. However, scientists, critics and art historians considered that irreparable damage could be caused to the masterpiece and in every possible way prevent further examinations.

"Black Square" is a multi-colored cube

Kazimir Malevich repeatedly stated that the picture was created by him under the influence of the unconscious, a kind of "cosmic consciousness". Some argue that only the square in the "Black Square" is seen by people with an underdeveloped imagination. If, when considering this picture, go beyond the traditional perception, go beyond the visible, then you will understand that in front of you is not a black square, but a multi-colored cube.

The secret meaning embedded in the "Black Square" can then be formulated as follows: the world around us, only at the first, superficial, look looks flat and black and white. If a person perceives the world in volume and in all its colors, his life will change dramatically. Millions of people who, according to them, were instinctively attracted to this picture, subconsciously felt the volume and multicoloredness of the Black Square.

Black color absorbs all other colors, so it is quite difficult to see a multi-colored cube in a black square. And to see white behind black, truth behind lies, life behind death is many times more difficult. But to those who succeed in doing this, a great philosophical formula will be revealed.

"Black Square" is a rebellion in art

At the time the painting appeared in Russia, there was a dominance of artists of the Cubist school. Cubism reached its apogee, already fed up with all the artists, and new artistic trends began to appear. One of these trends was Malevich's Suprematism and the "Black Suprematist Square" as its vivid embodiment. The term "Suprematism" comes from the Latin suprem, which means dominance, the superiority of color over all other properties of painting. Suprematist paintings are non-objective painting, an act of "pure creativity".

At the same time, the "Black Circle" and "Black Cross" were created and exhibited at the same exhibition, representing the three main elements of the Suprematist system. Later, two more Suprematist squares were created - red and white.

"Black Square", "Black Circle" and "Black Cross"

Suprematism has become one of the central phenomena of the Russian avant-garde. Many talented artists have experienced his influence. Rumor has it that Picasso lost interest in cubism after he saw "Malevich's square".

"Black Square" is an example of brilliant PR

Kazimir Malevich has figured out the essence of the future of contemporary art: no matter what, the main thing is how to submit and sell.

Artists have been experimenting with black all over since the 17th century. Robert Fludd, in 1617, was the first to paint a completely black work of art called "The Great Darkness", followed in 1843 by Bertal and his work "View of La Hougue (under the cover of night)". More than two hundred years later. And then almost without interruption - Gustave Dore's Twilight History of Russia in 1854, Paul Bielhold's Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement in 1882, and Alphonse Allais's "Battle of the Negroes in a Cave in the Dead Night" was completely plagiarized. And only in 1915, Kazimir Malevich presented his "Black Suprematist Square" to the public. And it is his picture that is known to everyone, while others are known only to art historians. Extravagant trick glorified Malevich for centuries.

Subsequently, Malevich painted at least four versions of his "Black Square", differing in pattern, texture and color, in the hope of repeating and multiplying the success of the painting.

"Black Square" is a political move

"Square" has almost nothing to do with art in its usual sense. The very fact of his writing is a declaration of the end of traditional art. A Bolshevik from culture, Malevich went to meet the new authorities, and the authorities believed him. Before the arrival of Stalin, Malevich held honorary positions and successfully rose to the rank of People's Commissar of the IZO Narkompros.

"Black Square" is a rejection of content

The painting marked a clear transition to the realization of the role of formalism in the visual arts. Formalism is the rejection of literal content in favor of artistic form. The artist, painting a picture, thinks not so much in terms of "context" and "content" as "balance", "perspective", "dynamic tension". What Malevich recognized and his contemporaries did not recognize is de facto for contemporary artists and “just a square” for everyone else.

"Black Square" is a challenge to Orthodoxy

The painting was first presented at the futuristic exhibition "0.10" in December 1915. along with 39 other works by Malevich. The “Black Square” hung in the most prominent place, in the so-called “red corner”, where icons were hung in Russian houses in accordance with Orthodox traditions. There he was "stumbled upon" by art critics. Many perceived the picture as a challenge to Orthodoxy and an anti-Christian gesture. The largest art critic of that time, Alexander Benois, wrote: "Undoubtedly, this is the icon that the gentlemen futurists put in place of the Madonna."

Exhibition "0.10". Petersburg. December 1915

"Black Square" is a crisis of ideas in art

Malevich is called almost the guru of contemporary art and is accused of the death of traditional culture. Today, any daredevil can call himself an artist and declare that his "works" have the highest artistic value.

Art has become obsolete and many critics agree that after the "Black Square" nothing outstanding has been created. Most of the artists of the 20th century lost their inspiration, many were in prison, exile or exile.

"Black Square" is a total emptiness, a black hole, death. They say that Malevich, having painted Black Square, told everyone for a long time that he could neither eat nor sleep. And he does not understand what he did. Subsequently, he wrote 5 volumes of philosophical reflections on the theme of art and being.

"Black Square" is a quackery

Charlatans successfully fool the public into believing something that is not really there. Those who do not believe them, they declare stupid, backward and do not understand anything stupid, who are inaccessible to high and beautiful. This is called the "naked king effect". Everyone is ashamed to say that this is garbage, because they will laugh.

And the most primitive drawing - a square - can be attributed to any deep meaning, the scope for human imagination is simply unlimited. Not understanding what the great meaning of the "Black Square" is, many people need to invent it for themselves so that there is something to admire when looking at the picture.

Self-portrait. Artist. 1933

The painting, painted by Malevich in 1915, remains perhaps the most discussed painting in Russian painting. For some, the "Black Square" is a rectangular trapezoid, and for some it is a deep philosophical message that the great artist encrypted. In the same way, looking at a piece of sky in the square of the window, everyone thinks about his own. What did you think about?

August 22, 2013, 04:34 PM

You don't have to be a great artist to draw a black square on a white background. Yes, anyone can do it! But here's the mystery: The Black Square is the most famous painting in the world. Almost 100 years have passed since its writing, and disputes and heated discussions do not stop. Why is this happening? What is the true meaning and value of Malevich's "Black Square"?

"Black square" is a dark rectangle

For the first time, Malevich's Black Square was presented to the public at a scandalous futuristic exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. Among other outlandish paintings by the artist, with mysterious phrases and numbers, with incomprehensible shapes and a heap of figures, a black square in a white frame stood out for its simplicity. Initially, the work was called "a black rectangle on a white background." Later, the name was changed to "square", despite the fact that, from the point of view of geometry, all sides of this figure are of different lengths and the square itself is slightly curved. With all these inaccuracies, none of its sides are parallel to the edges of the picture. And the dark color is the result of mixing various colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the negligence of the author, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form.

"Black Square" is a failed picture

Hence the effect of cracked paint on the surface. No mysticism, just the picture did not work out.

"Black Square" is a multi-colored cube

"Black Square" is a rebellion in art

At the time the painting appeared in Russia, there was a dominance of artists of the Cubist school.

Cubism (fr. Cubisme) is a modernist trend in the visual arts, characterized by the use of emphatically geometrized conditional forms, the desire to “split” real objects into stereometric primitives. The founders and largest representatives of which were Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The term "cubism" arose from a critical remark about the work of J. Braque that he reduces "cities, houses and figures to geometric schemes and cubes."

Pablo Picasso, Girls of Avignon

Juan Gris "The Man in the Cafe"

Cubism reached its apogee, already fed up with all the artists, and new artistic trends began to appear. One of these trends was Malevich's Suprematism and the "Black Suprematist Square" as its vivid embodiment. The term "Suprematism" comes from the Latin suprem, which means dominance, the superiority of color over all other properties of painting. Suprematist paintings are non-objective painting, an act of "pure creativity".

"Black Square", "Black Circle" and "Black Cross"

"Black Square" is an example of brilliant PR

Kazimir Malevich has figured out the essence of the future of contemporary art: no matter what, the main thing is how to submit and sell.

Artists have been experimenting with black all over since the 17th century.

The first tightly black work of art called "Great Darkness" wrote Robert Fludd in 1617

He was followed in 1843 by

Bertal and his work View of La Hougue (under the cover of night)». More than two hundred years later. And then almost without interruption -

"Twilight History of Russia" by Gustave Dore in 1854, "The Negro Night Fight in the Basement" by Paul Bielhold in 1882, a completely plagiarized "Negro Fight in a Cave in the Dead of Night" by Alphonse Allais. And only in 1915, Kazimir Malevich presented his "Black Suprematist Square" to the public. And it is his picture that is known to everyone, while others are known only to art historians. Extravagant trick glorified Malevich for centuries.

Subsequently, Malevich painted at least four versions of his Black Square, differing in pattern, texture and color, in the hope of repeating and multiplying the painting's success.

"Black Square" is a political move

Kazimir Malevich was a subtle strategist and skillfully adjusted to the changing situation in the country. Numerous black squares, painted by other artists during the time of Tsarist Russia, have remained unnoticed. In 1915, Malevich's square acquired a completely new meaning, relevant to its time: the artist offered revolutionary art for the benefit of a new people and a new era.
"Square" has almost nothing to do with art in its usual sense. The very fact of his writing is a declaration of the end of traditional art. A Bolshevik from culture, Malevich went to meet the new authorities, and the authorities believed him. Before the arrival of Stalin, Malevich held honorary positions and successfully rose to the rank of People's Commissar of the IZO Narkompros.

"Black Square" is a rejection of content

"Black Square" is a challenge to Orthodoxy

The painting was first presented at the futuristic exhibition "0.10" in December 1915. along with 39 other works by Malevich. The “Black Square” hung in the most prominent place, in the so-called “red corner”, where icons were hung in Russian houses according to Orthodox traditions. There he was "stumbled upon" by art critics. Many perceived the picture as a challenge to Orthodoxy and an anti-Christian gesture. The largest art critic of that time, Alexander Benois, wrote: "Undoubtedly, this is the icon that the gentlemen futurists put in place of the Madonna."

Exhibition "0.10". Petersburg. December 1915

"Black Square" is a crisis of ideas in art

Malevich is called almost the guru of contemporary art and accused of the death of traditional culture. Today, any daredevil can call himself an artist and declare that his "works" have the highest artistic value.

"Black Square" is a quackery

Alternative opinions worthy of attention (from various sources):

- "The simplest and most essential idea of this work, its compositional-theoretical meaning. Malevich was a well-known theorist and teacher of the theory of composition. The square is the simplest figure for visual perception - a figure with equal sides, therefore, it is from it that novice artists begin to take steps. When they are given the first tasks on the theory of composition, on horizontal and vertical rhythms. gradually complicating tasks and shapes - a rectangle, a circle, polygons. Thus, the square is the basis of everything, and black, because nothing more can be added. "(WITH)

- Some comrades claim that it's a pixel(jokingly, of course). Pixel (eng. pixel - short for pix element, in a certain source. picture cell) - the smallest element of a two-dimensional digital image in raster graphics. That is, any drawings and any inscriptions that we see on the screen when enlarged consist of pixels, and Malevich was somewhat of a seer.

- Personal "insight" of the artist.

The beginning of the 20th century marked an era of great upheavals, a turning point in people's worldview and their attitude to reality. The world was in a state when the old ideals of beautiful classical art faded completely and there was no return to them, and the birth of a new one was predicted by great upheavals in painting. There was a movement from realism and impressionism, as the transfer of sensations, to abstract painting. those. first humanity depicts objects, then sensations, and finally ideas.

Malevich's black square turned out to be a timely fruit of the artist's insight, who managed to create the foundations of the future language of art with this simplest geometric figure, which is fraught with many other forms. Rotating a square in a circle, Malevich obtained the geometric figures of a cross and a circle. When rotating along the axis of symmetry, I got a cylinder. A seemingly elementary flat square contains not only other geometric shapes, but can create three-dimensional bodies. The black square, dressed in a white frame, is nothing but the fruit of the creator's insight and his thoughts about the future of art ... (C)

- This picture, undoubtedly, is and will be a mysterious, attractive, always alive and pulsating object of human attention. It is valuable because it has a huge number of degrees of freedom, where the theory of Malevich himself is a special case of explaining this picture. It has such qualities, is filled with such energy that it makes it possible to explain and interpret it an infinite number of times at any intellectual level. And most importantly, to provoke people to creativity. A huge number of books, articles, and other things have been written about the Black Square, many paintings inspired by this thing have been created, the more time passes from the day it was written, the more we need this riddle, which has no solution or, conversely, has an infinite number of them .
__________________________________________________

ps If you look closely, you can see other tones and colors through the craquelure paint. It is quite possible that under this dark mass there was a picture, but all attempts to enlighten this picture with something did not end in success. The only thing that is certain is that there are some figures or patterns, a long stripe, something very fuzzy. Which may well not be a picture under the picture, but simply the bottom layer of the square itself and the patterns could be formed in the process of drawing :)

And what idea is closest to you?