Kazimir Severinovich Malevich is an avant-garde artist, the founder of Suprematism, one of the founders of Cubo-Futurism, teacher, art theorist.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on February 23, 1878 in Kyiv. Until the age of 17, he lived in Podillia, Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions.
He began to paint under the guidance of Mykola Pymonenko.
From 1895 to 1897 he studied at the Kyiv Art School, from 1904 to 1905 – at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
He also studied in the studio of Fyodor Rerberga from 1910.
Career
For almost 10 years he lived in Kursk, where he worked on the Kursk-Moscow Railway. During that period, he continued to paint and founded his own painting circle.
At the beginning of his career, he combined elements of cubism, futurism and expressionism. He participated in the exhibitions of art associations “Jack of Diamonds” in 1910, as well as “Donkey Tail” in 1912 and not only. He exhibited paintings made in neo-primitivist and cubo-futurist styles.
In 1913, he was engaged in the design of the futuristic opera “Victory over the Sun”. It was then that the “Black Square” was first demonstrated on the stage, which was painted by Malevich as a decoration for the performance.
Over time, the artist became one of the founders of abstract art. In 1915, he founded a new modernist trend – Suprematism.
On December 7 of the same year, he first presented the painting “Black Square on a White Background”, which eventually acquired the status of a symbol of abstract art. Later he painted “White and Black”.
In 1916, Malevich published the magazine “Supremus”. After that, from 1919 to 1922, he taught at the Vitebsk Art School.
During 1923 – 1927 he headed the Institute of Artistic Culture in Leningrad.
In 1927, he moved to Kyiv.
In 1928 – 1929 he published art articles in the Kharkiv magazine “New Generation”.
In the period from 1927 to 1930 he taught at the Kyiv Art Institute. He reigned to collaborate with the sculptor Oleksandr Archipenko, but due to the beginning of repressions against the Ukrainian intelligentsia, he was forced to return to Leningrad.
When the political situation in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) began to deteriorate, Malevich decided to leave for Europe.
In 1930, he planned to move to Kyiv, but after returning to St. Petersburg, where his family lived, he was arrested. In the fall of the same year, the artist was accused of espionage for Poland, and he was threatened with execution.
He spent three months in prison, where he was severely tortured. After that, he developed prostate cancer.
Death/Fatalities
He died on May 15, 1935 in Leningrad due to oncology.
Marital Status
In 1899, Malevich married Kazimira Zgleitz. The couple had two children: Georgiy and Halyna.
After that, he married Sofia Rafalovich, with whom his daughter Una was born.
The last wife of the artist was Natalia Manchenko.
