Page 42 - Studio International - September 1967

l'artista, e non r ogetto, forma il nocciolo centrale. E' un Malevich's philosophical attitude." Baljeu bases his judg-
ambiente archittettonico emotivo che crea la senzacione ments on Die gegenstandslose Welt and the German edition
e avvolge lo spettatore.'s of 1962. He tries to prove that Malevich was influenced
Practically all these viewpoints have their close parallels by Hegel's Philosophy of Fine Art and by the ideas of
in Malevich's early writings. Of particular importance Solovyov and Berdyayev. The reference to a Hegelian
is the intuitive approach, which Malevich turned into element of thought seems relevant, at least in very
an attack on logics. CI reject the soul and intuition as general terms. As to Solovyov, closer parallels can be
unnecessary. On February 19, 1914, at a public lecture, found in theoretical articles by other Symbolist poets,
I rejected reason.') He is constantly stressing his fight particularly Merezhkovsky and Belyy, the latter basing
against 'reason' through `alogism', which he later consi- himself on Schopenhauer. To connect Berdyayev with
dered a specific Russian interpretation of Futurist ideas. Malevich is to misunderstand both. There was not and
Boccioni speaks about elaboration as a phase in the could not be anything in common between Malevich and
development of the arts : the author of The Crisis of Art (Moscow 1918). Baljeu's
From Impressionism to Cubism. suggestion is quite untenable.
Apice: Dinamismo-Sogetto-Stati d' animo. The critical method which Malevich developed during
Transformazione ...? his lifetime and applied in New Art is extraordinary. His
Stadio ultimo... ?9 analysis of the structure of paintings may to some extent
It is obvious that Malevich is following this line when have been influenced by the contemporary Russian lit-
he makes his deduction about the 'supreme painting'— erary school of Formalism. On the other hand, it was
the stadio ultimo'. Boccioni may have been responsible for precisely the experiments of the modern painters, in-
this conclusion, although it was a widespread concep- cluding Malevich, which around 1910-12 played a
tion that art progressed by 'elaboration' (cf. Leger, decisive role for several key figures in this school (Viktor
Kandinsky). At least the coincidence is remarkable. That Shklovsky, Roman Yakobson, etc.) By 1930 little art
Malevich carries through a debate with the Futurists in criticism or contemporary art history had as well-defined
From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism is evident from the a basis as that of New Art. Malevich demonstrated—
frequent references to Titian, Nero, Michelangelo, the especially in the essays on Cubism—the advantage of the
Giaconda etc. All the statements against contemporary formal method. His classification of Cubism comes closer
critics and academies are also anticipated by the mani- to the point than Apollinaire's division into states or the
festoes of 1910-12 and by Boccioni. distinctions between analytical and synthetic Cubism.
Several years after Malevich had started painting what The concept of the 'additional element' and Malevich's
he called `Suprematist' works he felt the need to create a attempts to single out colour scales and other common
wider historical and philosophical basis for Suprematism. formal characteristics in paintings by Picasso, Braque,
None of his earlier writings discuss Suprematism at Metzinger, Gleizes and himself are still of value. Thanks
length; they all deal with 'elaboration'. Judging from the to his conscious approach he was also able to give artists
texts it is obvious that the ideas of Suprematism were like Picabia and Boccioni full understanding.
based upon a particular concept of painting and the Yet he was well aware of the limits of his tools. 'To
recent development of the arts. They were not derived examine a Cubist creation formally is to fail to under-
from a philosophical system of thought, as both Soviet stand its essence. The world which is understood by
and Western critics have always maintained. In a nega- sensations is a constant world. The world which con-
tive sense Tatlin made this clear when characterizing sciousness understands as a form is not constant.'12 q
Suprematism as 'the sum of errors of the past'.
Many attempts have been made to classify Malevich as 1 Quoted after F. Leger, Fonctions de la peinture. Preface by
an anti-materialist. His attitude has been set in relation Roger Gaurauday. Paris 1965, p. 15.
to philosophers like Berdyayev, Solovyov, Avenarius and 2 ibid. p. 25.
3 Les origins de la peinture et sa valeur representative was printed in
Mach—to name a few. His standpoint in these matters,
Montjoie, May—June 1913. Les réalisations picturales actuelles
however, was not as pronounced as that of most of his appeared in 'Les soirees de Paris', June 1914. That the latter
critics—or champions. As a painter he was aware that journal was known in Moscow can be seen from a page from the
images arise in the human mind as the result of interaction list of subscribers, reproduced in Elzbieta Grabska: Apollinaire i
between outer world and mind. On certain occasions he teoretycy kubizmu v latach 1908-18 (Warszaw, 1966).
4 F. Leger, loc. cit. p. 18-19.
entered into polemics against a narrow materialist con-
5 Cf. T. Andersen: Some Unpublished Letters by Kandinsky, Artes
ception, but this still does not make him an idealist
No. 2, Copenhagen 1966.
philosopher. He only took part in discussions on art. 6 Cf. introduction to the exhibition 'Inner and Outer Space',
When his book God is not cast down came out in 1922, it Moderna Museet, Stockholm, section on Malevich, Chap. I,
was severely criticized. In an answer to his critics he Stockholm, 1965.
7 F. Leger: loc. cit. p. 23.
touched on the standing question of debate for artists and
8 U. Boccioni: Pittura Scultura Futuriste (Dinamismo plastico). Milan,
critics during the first years of the revolution : 'Does con- 1914, p. 254-5.
sciousness determine existence, or existence determine 9 ibid. p. 84.
consciousness ? Did the chicken come from the egg, or the 10 K. Malevich: The Tumbler (Van'ka-vstanka). In Zhizn' Iskusstva,
egg from the chicken ? Does consciousness exist outside No. 21. May 29, 1923, p. 16 (Petersburg 1923).
11 Joost Baljeu, The problems of reality with Suprematism,
existence, or the latter without the former? What do you
Constructivism, Proun. Neo-plasticism and Elementarism. The Lugano
think, comrade Isakov ?'10 Review No. I, 1965, p. 105-23.
Joost Baljeu recently attempted a serious discussion of 12 'Nova Generatsiya', No. 8-9, 1930, p. 56 (Kharkhov).