Theory and Practice of the Russian Avant-Garde: Kazimir Malevich and His School

This book is a collection of selected articles written and published over the last 20 years by a leading researcher of the Russian avant-garde, Candidate of Art History, Chief Researcher of the Tretyakov Gallery, Tatiana Goryacheva.
Kazimir Malevich, one of the... greatest masters of the 20th century, appears in this book both as an artist, the creator of the Suprematism movement and its programmatic work – the famous 'Black Square', and as a philosopher, the author of theoretical works that build a socio-aesthetic utopia of 'the world as non-objectness'. Malevich's creativity and philosophical concept are considered within the context of the artistic life contemporary to him: sources and impulses, parallels, intersections, and rivalries with the relevant trends in art of that time. However, Malevich did not think of his activity without creating a school – the Suprematism he invented needed further development and transformation into a universal artistic system, and for this, a circle of followers was necessary. 'You need to grow them so that you can spread the oak and saplings not through words, but with seeds. And to spread the seeds all over the world', he said to his trainees during classes. The establishment of the Suprematism school, the creation of the 'Unovis' group, and the attempts of its members to find their own way in art – all of this became an integral part not only of the creative destinies of Malevich and his students but also of the history of the Russian avant-garde.