Suprematism (redirected from suprematist)

suprematism, Russian art movement founded (1913) by Casimir Malevich in Moscow, parallel to constructivism. Malevich drew Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky to his revolutionary, nonobjective art. In Malevich's words, suprematism sought "to liberate art from the ballast of the representational world." It consisted of geometrical shapes flatly painted on the pure canvas surface. Malevich's white square on a white ground (Mus. of Modern Art, New York City) embodied the movement's principles. Suprematism, through its dissemination by the Bauhaus, deeply influenced the development of modern European art, architecture, and industrial design.

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Suprematism

First movement of pure geometrical abstraction in art, introduced in Russia c. 1913. Originated by Kazimir Malevich and disseminated by El Lissitzky and the Bauhaus school, it had far-reaching influence on Western art and design. Malevich aimed to convey the “supremacy of feeling in art,” which he believed could be expressed through the simplest of visual forms. He exhibited the first Suprematist compositions in 1915, the year he issued the Suprematist manifesto. The purest embodiment of Suprematist ideals can be seen in his White on White series (1917–18).