Malevich, an hero pushed to death.

Abstract

© 2016 The author(s). Published by Taylor & francis This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CONTACT francesco Carelli francesco.carelli@alice.it Kazimir Malevich (1878–1935) was a radical, mysterious and hugely influential figure in modern art. He lived and worked through one of the most turbulent periods in twentieth-century history. In 2014, Tate Modern in London presented the first major Malevich retrospective for almost twenty-five years. This groundbreaking exhibition drew on the world’s greatest collections of his work to offer an expansive view of his career. Having come of age in Tsarist Russia, Malevich witnessed the October Revolution first-hand. His early experiments as a painter led him towards the cataclysmic invention of Suprematism, a bold visual language of abstract geometric shapes and stark colours, epitomised by his piece: Black Square. A definitively radical gesture, it was revealed to the world after months of secrecy and was hidden again for almost half a century after its creator’s death. It sits on a par with Duchamp’s ‘ready-mades’ as a game-changing moment in twentieth-century art and continues to inspire and confound viewers to this day. The show explored his collaborative involvement with architecture and theatre, including his designs for the avant-garde opera Victory over the Sun. The exhibition also followed his temporary abandonment of painting in favour of teaching and writing, and his much-debated return to figurative painting in later life. Malevich’s work tells a fascinating story about the dream of a new social order, the successes and pitfalls of revolutionary ideals, and the power of art itself. This exhibition, for the first time, offered a chance to trace his groundbreaking developments not only through well-known masterpieces OPEN ACCESS