Suprematism

Art Fortune | Suprematism

The Suprematism movement began in Russia in 1915, under the direction of its founder, Kasimir Malevich. At the time of the Suprematism beginning, Malevich was already an established painter who had been featured in the Donkey’s Tail and Der Blaue Reiter exhibitions. He devised this new art form, which consists of planes of solid colors against simplistic backgrounds when, as he says, “Felt only night within me and it was then that I conceived the new art, which I call Suprematism”.

This movement was largely inspired by Cubism and Futureism, but Malevich hoped to go beyond those ideals to abandon all reference to the visible world in order to express the supremacy of the pure form. By limiting himself to basic geometric shapes and a limited color palette, Malevich was essentially creating by far the most radically abstract paintings that had ever been seen at the time. With the onset of Stalinism that took a strong hold of Russia not long after, Malevich’s artistic principals were being limited from the government. At the time, the Soviet regime insisted that artwork be socially functional and as a result, Malevich’s groundbreaking work was forced to come to a stop. Despite Suprematism’s brief stint in the art world, it clearly became a huge influence for artists in the future and later made a huge impact of art and design that would be created in the West.