Page 28 - Studio International - October1968

Previous page Malevich in the late 1920s Below Malevich lying in state 1935 in the premises of the Artists' Union,
Leningrad
Below from left to right: M. Matjusjin, A. Kruchonych and
K. Malevich 1913 Facing page Malevich lying in state in his own flat in the building of the
former Institute of Artistic Culture 1935

EFORE EMBARKING UPON an examination of figurative art in they liked.
general, I must first analyse myself as a painter who at one My mother's day-to-day life (at home) was taken up by housework,
B time represented nature as it appeared to my eye, and my father spent the whole day at the sugar refinery. The house was
what were the feelings or impetus that induced me to do this. furnished simply; there were icons, which hung more for the sake of
Ever since my childhood —and my memory has served me well even tradition and society than from some religious feeling—neither my
to this day—I can remember which forms and states of nature father nor my mother were particularly religious, as they always had
captured my attention and produced a particular reaction to these some reason for not going to church. My father liked very much to
states. have some fun by inviting the Catholic and Russian Orthodox
I remember well and will never forget, that first and foremost I was priests, unexpectedly for them both.
always struck by shades and colours, then I was impressed by storms, Whilst briefly referring to life at home, I would like to point out
thunder and lightning. I felt complete peace after a thunderstorm, what could have been an influence on me and in this way reveal some
and I was excited by the alternation of day and night. I remember guide-line for me—for example, there were painted icons, which first
too, how difficult it was to put me to bed or tear me away from my and foremost must influence, for they portray people in colour, but
passion for observing or rather simply looking at the burning stars, it appears that all this was so overshadowed by other attitudes to
at the open sky as dark as a rook. them that it did not even dawn on anyone to see ordinary people's
And if I had to submit, then in my bed, which stood near the win- faces in the representation on an icon, and that colour was the means
dow, I would draw wide the curtain and continue looking into space. to express the latter. Thus icons did not arouse any association of
I liked, too, the rays of the moon in my room with the window ideas and had nothing to do with the life around me. I also went with
reflected on the floor, bed, walls, and now many years have passed my father to the refinery, and saw what went as machines in those
but these phenomena have become fixed in my mind to this day. It is days; I saw quickly rotating centrifugal machines, in which the sugar
true that in my family I was not the only one who liked listening to turned white. I was standing next to an amazing enormous appara-
the thunderstorm and observing (in detail) the changes of colour in tus; my father was in charge of it; it was used for observing the boiling
nature. My father liked doing this too, but he could not express it on of treacle and crystallization of sugar. But this, too, had absolutely
paper, nor could he draw. He could only draw an inimitable fighting no effect on me, it did not make me want to depict it; but there was
goat and a head, which figured on medals, and then only facing left. another impression, more a musical impression: noise, hissing, groan-
So one would say, that these are the only circumstances which were ing of machinery, its special gentle rhythm; all this filled me with joy.
an influence on me, circumstances under which I lived in the South All the same I was intrigued most by nature; my father too; and he
of the Ukraine.... Yet maybe this is not enough, maybe I should like me looked at the changes in it. But we would both be silent,
indicate the mode of life and the conditions under which my father unable to say anything to one another, except for `wonderful'; but
lived. what was 'wonderful' and why it was 'wonderful' —about this we did
Our day-to-day life at home was common to all people working at not say a word, and exactly forty years later I am attempting to
sugar refineries at that time (the 1880s). There was no mention of understand this word and I do not know whether I will be able to
art, and it took me quite a long time to find out that the word art clarify it even now.
existed, that there were artists, who did nothing but draw whatever I remember once after a heavy downpour, which occurred just
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