By Brian Kelly, Stephen Gonzalez, Vanessa Foster Suprematism By Brian Kelly, Stephen Gonzalez, Vanessa Foster

Early Beginnings The year was 1913 and the world was at war (excluding America) A middle aged Kazimir Malevich was creating an art movement “heavily influenced by avant-garde poets, and an emerging movement in literary criticism. 1” First expression of idea for suprematism was shown at a futurist opera performed in St. Petersburg called, “Victory Over the Sun. 1”

Suprematism The first exhibition of Suprematism was in 1915 Key concept was to reach a "zero degree" of art to the point where it would not stop being considered art. 35 paintings by Malevich were presented in the first exhibition Among them was black square and white on white background The art “Can seem highly serious but there is a large amount of absurdity in the movement. 2” “Considered to be a happy mix between futurism and cubism. 1” Basic geometric shapes with a limited range of color

El Lissitzky It was 1919 and El Lissitzky was finishing up studying at Darmstadt being influenced by the modernist movement Later that year El Lissitzky joined up with Kazimir Malevich at a college in Vitebsk They began to create abstract pictures, “described as the interchanged station between painting and architecture. 3” Prouns “An acronym for project for the affirmation of the new in Russian” Stopped painting and focused more on designing exposition displays and such

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919-20) Based on the struggles of the revolutionary "reds" and the conservative "whites" Developed during the color phase of the movement

Globetrotter (Left) and New Man (Right) 1923 Shown in a one man exhibition Focused on mechanical puppets from a theater in an attempt to move away from more abstract art.

Proun 19D (1920-21) Based on his earlier years as a architect in German before the war, as well as his inspiration from Malevich

Proun 1 E (Left) and Proun 1 (Right), (1920) Examples of El Lissitzky's proun series of work, containing numerous proun. These prouns come from six known sets done around this time

On New Systems in Art: Statics and Speeds (1919) Joint work by both Lissitzky and Malevich Contained in a book with a total of 8 lithographs One image bares an almost identical look to Malevich's Black Square on White Background image

Sportsmen (1920-21) Based on the inhearent meaning of sound in Victory Over Sun A representation of characters from the opera, and of mechanical dolls.

Two Untitled Works from Proun (1919-23) Some of the latest works by Lissitzky, pressumably before he stopped producing art

End of Suprematism El Lissitzk, being conflicted to his devotion to the USSR and the silencing and execution of his colleagues decided to stop painting and focus more on designing exhibition displays and architecture Suprematism was being displayed in both European and American exhibitions and was being generally well received Under the reign of Stalin the arts were heavily censored Despite being well received, the movement was beaten back until it faded out of the popular eye

Work Cited, used for info and art 1 http://www.theartstory.org/movement- suprematism.htm#consepts_and_styles_header 2 http://www.theartstory.org/movement -suprematism.htm 3 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/el-lissitzky-1519 4 http://www.moma.org/artists/3569?locale=en