Page 31 - Studio International - March 1972

Supernatural Supersensual Abyss, which example, Hegel explains that the Absolute is opposing forces. For Malevich, man's creative
hath no ground or Byss to stand on, and Being, but since it is a mere abstract, it is also imagination operates in such a moment of
where there is no place to dwell in; and he absolutely negative. In effect, Hegel's idea of tension:
findeth also nothing is like unto it, and perfectability is as indefinite a term as ' "Nothingness" can neither be investigated
therefore it may be fitly compared to mutability. The very chaos of nature which nor studied for it is "nothingness", but in
Nothing; for it is deeper than any Things, man discerns turns in on itself and is as this "nothingness" appeared "something"
and is as Nothing with Respect to All undetermined as the stage of perfection from —man; but since "something" cannot
Things, for as much as it is not which it, and man, are derived. comprehend anything, it automatically
comprehensible by any of them. And Since Being and Nothing are the same, they becomes "nothing", as non-objectivity. And
because it is Nothing respectively, it is disappear into each other: becoming is a will not the only reality be that all the
therefore free from All Things, and is that `movement in which both are differentiated, "something" that appears in the space of
only Good, which a man cannot express but by a difference that has just as immediately our imagination is simply
or utter what it is; there being Nothing to dissolved',114 a unity of two opposites. "nothingness" '. 117
which it may be compared to express it Hegelian dialectic is a notion of man in the The process of the thing (object) becoming the
process of becoming, for just as imperfection negation of the thing (non-object), or of man
Absolute terms defy definition because they are contains the germ of its opposite, so becoming spirit, is an active interaction of the
not comparative. It is this inability to express `reflectively at least possibility points to two in the moment of creation. Only through
the difference between Nothing and All, and something destined to become actual'.115 By this process is there a gradual awareness of
their self-contradictory qualities, which way of comparison, Marx's dialectic is not based reality. In the unity of the contradiction
underlie the dialectic process, 'the universal upon a single contradiction between ideal and between object and non-object, in which the
and irresistable power before which nothing actual but 'embraces a plurality of contradictions idea exists, man is in a constant state of
can stay, however secure and stable it may within society',116 a fluid movement, a becoming, actively moving towards the
deem itself '.109 The inevitability of destruction revolutionary and constantly critical process Absolute. As Ernst Fischer says, reality is 'a
is a significant part of Hegel's philosophy; that acknowledges the inevitable negation and state of suspended tension between being and
`life as life, involves the germ of death, and the breaking up of the state. But both see a new non-being, in which both being and non-being
finite being radically self-contradictory state of reality as the result of an active process are unreal and only their incessant interaction,

involves its own self-suppression'.110 of becoming produced by the conflict of their becoming, is real.118 q
Worringer, throughout his discussion in
Abstraction and Empathy, emphasizes that
abstraction, unlike empathy, aims to achieve 54Hegel, G. W. F., Introduction to the Philosophy of 84Marinetti, 'Initial Manifesto of Futurism', Feb. 20,
`the life-denying and inorganic' (III) aspiring Fine Art, tr. B. Bosanquet, 1886, p 55. 1909, from J. C. Taylor, Futurism, 196 I.
to an absolute which is inorganic and also 55 Malevich believes that life seen from the viewpoint B5 Philosophy of History, ibid, p 56.
of art is 'constant and invariable', 'Painting and the
lifeless. Malevich felt that Suprematism Problem of Architecture', from Essays on Art, 86 Quoted from Kaufman, W., Hegel, 1966, p 254.
87 Introduction to the Philosophy of Fine Art, ibid,
achieved such an absolute and unchangeable 2 Vols, ed. Troels Andersen, 1968. p 146.
state; he had the basic suprematist element 56 Malevich, Kasimir, The Non-Objective World, 1927 88 `From Cubism and Futurism...', ibid.
(tr. Dearstyne, Chicago, 1959), p 18. 89 Philosophy of History, ibid, p 56.
placed as a headstone over his grave, and
57 ibid. "Worringer is here quoting Alois Riegl, from
Baljeu points out112 that during his lifetime 58 Introduction to the Philosophy of Fine Art, ibid. Spatromische Kunstindustrie, in Abstraction and
Malevich possessed his own coffin which he PP 79-83. Empathy, ibid, p 2I.
59Malevich, K., 'From Cubism and Futurism to 91 'From Cubism and Futurism...', ibid.
decorated with a suprematist canvas. Suprematism', from Essays on Art, ibid. 92ibid.
The dialectic method was first used by 60 Kandinsky, Wassily, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 93 The Meaning of the Creative Act, ibid.
Kant to explain how contradictory principles Wittenborn, 1964, p 23. 94 Philosophy of History, ibid, p 56.
95ibid, p 25.
emerge when such principles are used to 61Worringer, Wilhelm, Abstraction and Empathy, 96 Introduction to the Philosophy of Fine Art, ibid,
1908, tr. M. Bullock 1963, p44.
determine transcendental ideas, how (as Hegel 62 ibid, p 37. PP 153-4.
explains Kant's method in Logic) 'every 63Berdyaev, Nicolai A., The Meaning of the Creative "Hegel, G. W. F., Philosophy of Mind, tr. Wallace,
1 894.
Act, 1914, tr. D. A. Lowrie, 1 955.
abstract proposition of understanding, taken 64 Abstraction and Empathy, ibid, pp 98 The Meaning of the Creative Act, ibid.
3-4.
precisely as it is given, naturally veers round 65 Boehme, Jacob, The Supersensual Life, 1624 99 Baljeu, Joost, 'The Problem of Reality with
into its opposite'. Hegel went further than this : (William Law translation 1781). Suprematism, Constructivism, Proun, Neoplasticism,
and Elementarism', The Lugano Review, 1965, I.
the contradictions seem to join together and 66Traherne, Thomas, Poems and Thanksgivings, 100 Introduction to the Philosophy of Fine Art, ibid,
OUP, 1958.
form a higher truth that transcends experience 67 Wind, Edgar, Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance, PP 154—5.
altogether. For through the act of transcendence 1958. 101Abstraction and Empathy, ibid, p 38.
68 Shakespeare, William, Hamlet, Act 3, Sc. ii. 102 Malevich, K., 'An analysis of the new and
(that is, the act of contradictions joining 69 The Non-Objective World, ibid, p 36. imitative art (Cezanne)', 1928-30, from Essays on
together), the principles are truly understood. 70 Malevich, K., 'The Suprematist Mirror', from Art, ibid.
Hegel states that Being and Nothing work Essays on Art, ibid. 1°3 Introduction to the Philosophy of Fine Art, ibid,
71 Hegel, G. W. F., Philosophy of History, tr. Sibree, p 168.
together like 'immediacy' (existence) and
1956. 104 'From Cubism and Futurism...', ibid.
`mediation' (self-consciousness) for nowhere 72 Quoted from Fischer, Ernst, The Necessity of Art 1°5 Malevich, K., 'On New Systems in Art', 1919,
either in the physical or spiritual world is there (tr. A. Bostock 1963). from Essays on Art, ibid.
106 Introduction to the Philosophy of Fine Art, ibid.
anything which does not contain in itself both "Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Tractatus 107ibid, p 168.
Logico-Philosophicus, 1921 (tr. Pears and
Being and Nothing. It is the same as speaking McGuinness, 1961). 108 The Supersensual Life, ibid.
of 'a something' (nature) and 'what is actual' 74 ibid, 2.021. 109 Hegel, G. W. F., Logic, tr. W. Wallace, 1892,
75ibid, 2.0271. p 150.
(spirit). Hegel explains that pure Being can
76ibid. 110 ibid, p 148.
only be equal to itself, for it is 'pure 77ibid,l.I and 2.0272. 111Abstraction and Empathy, ibid, p 4o.
undeterminateness and emptiness' ;113 therefore 78 Soloviev, V. S., `8th Lecture on Godmanhood', 112 The Lugano Review, ibid.
there is nothing to be 'intuited', and since from Lectures on Godmanhood 1877-84, introduced 113 Quoted from Kaufman, ibid.
by P. P. Zouboff, 1948. "4 ibid.
intuition is the basis of existence, pure Being is 79 Abstraction and Empathy, ibid, pp 34 -5. 115 Philosophy of History, ibid, p 57.
Nothing. Similarly, Nothing is equal only to 80 The Supersensual Life, ibid. 116 Quoted from Caute, D., The Essential Writings of
81 Abstraction and Empathy, ibid, p 16. Karl Marx, 1967.
itself and since it contains no determination or
82ibid, p 35. 117 `God is not Cast Down', from Essays on Art, ibid.
content it is the same as pure Being. For 83 The Meaning of the Creative Act, ibid. 118Fischer, E., The Necessity of Art, ibid.
105