Kazimir Malevich: Not Only Black Square. Early and little-known works of the creator of suprematism will be on display at an exhibition in Moscow

At the end of November, VDNH's Pavilion of the Worker and the Kolkhoz Woman will host the exhibition Kazimir Malevich: Not Only Black Square. It brings together pieces that illustrate various aspects of the work of this great master, including some that do not quite fit into the public's established ideas about the personality and achievements of one of the most significant artists of the last century.

The first decade of the 1900s, when Malevich's artistic career began, is vividly represented by a 1906 impressionistic sketch from the Sepherot Foundation's collection called 'House with Verandah', with a fragment of a painting on the reverse side, giving insight into the artist's earliest (non-extant) painting.

Pieces from museums in the regions, which the artist deliberately sold to the State Fund as his best work, are rare guests in Moscow: 'Haymaker' (1912), from the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, 'Four Squares' (1915) from the A.N. Radischev State Art Museum in Saratov, 'Suprematism' from the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, as well as the painting 'Life in a Big Hotel' (1913) from the Samara Regional Art Museum, the authentication of which turned into a real investigation ten years ago.

Also, the exhibition will provide visitors with a unique opportunity to discover Malevich paintings from Russian and foreign private collections, including the collection of Valery Dudakov and Marina Kashuro ('Three Figures in a Field', 1928–1930), that of Inge and Philip van den Hurk ('Portrait of Elizaveta Yakovleva', 1932) and of the Sepherot Foundation ('Suprematism. Rectangle and Circle', 1915). One of the exhibition's real discoveries will be 'Winter Landscape' (1929), from a private collection, known until now only to specialists.

Material connected with the family of the artist is also of particular interest, including the late decorative graphic compositions done by his younger brother, Mechislav Severinovich Malevich (1882–1962). Thanks to this exhibition, researchers and the general public will be able to see the personality of the Russian avant-gardist in a new, richer way, as well as get a better understanding of the context of the epoch in which he lived and created.

Information about the project

The exhibition Kazimir Malevich: Not Only Black Square at the Pavilion of the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman is devoted to the 20th-century reformer of art and creator of suprematism, Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (1879–1935). The curator is one of the leading researchers of the Russian avant-garde, professor of art history Aleksandra Shatskikh, who has written about the work of Kazimir Malevich and Marc Chagall.

The exhibition will include work from the collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, V.V. Mayakovsky State Museum, the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts, the V.I. Surikov Krasnoyarsk Art Gallery, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music, the Samara Regional Art Museum, the Radischev State Art Museum in Saratov, the Tula Regional Art Museum, the collection of Valery Dudakov and Marina Kashuro (Moscow), the Sepherot Foundation, and more.

WORKING HOURS: 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
PRICE: adults: 300 roubles, children from 6 to 16, full-time students and pensioners: 100 roubles.
FREE ENTRANCE: children under 6, orphans, abandoned children, people with disabilities, veterans of the Great Patriotic War and members of large families with at least one child under 16.