Page 45 - Studio International - April 1974

observation of positivism and logical (Top) Musical Instrument! Lamp 1913
(Bottom) Woman at Poster Column 1914
Oil on canvas, collage, 71 x 64 cm
understanding.' Uspensky states that 'in art we Oil on canvas, 83*5 x 69*5 cm
Coll. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Coll. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
have already the first experiments in a language
of the future. Art anticipates a psychic evolution
and divines its future forms'. In literature he
says that 'new parts of speech are necessary, an
infinite number of new words.'2
The drawings which Malevich contributed as
illustrations to `Troye' suggest that he was
already searching for a new language of the
future, but although `Tertium Organum' gives
hints to artists anxious to create new forms, by
itself it seems unlikely to have led to the use by
Malevich of simple, geometric forms. The
sources must be in other places.
Because Malevich later dated the beginnings
of Suprematism to a time when he first knew
Matiushin it seems useful to try to investigate
more precisely the nature of the relationship
between Malevich and Matiushin.3
Matiushin was a painter as well as a musician,
and his main contact with Malevich during 1913
was over their collaboration on the production
of the futurist opera 'Victory over the Sun' for
which Malevich made the designs and
Matiushin wrote the music. There were at
least two periods in 1913 when Malevich
joined Matiushin: they were together in
Usikirkko in Finland during July4 and then in
St Petersburg for the working out of the
opera, presented at the Luna-Park theatre on
December 3 and 5. Before February 1914
Malevich painted a portrait of Matiushin which
was first exhibited at the Jack of Diamonds
exhibition in Moscow in that month.5
In the periodical Soyuz Molodezhi (Union of
Youth) No 3, which was published in March
1913, appeared a translation of and commentary
on Gleize's and Metzinger's 'Du Cubisme'
written by Matiushin. Of course, in order
to translate and comment on the book
Matiushin must have had the original French
edition (which had appeared in Paris in
December 1912). The paintings which
Malevich exhibited contemporaneously with
the production of 'Victory over the Sun'6 show
that the development in his style during 1913
stems at least in part from a closer interest in
and knowledge of the appearance of French
Cubism, and comparison with some of the
illustrations in 'Du Cubisme' seems to point
to Malevich's careful study of them during
1913. As the article in Soyuz Molodezhi was
not illustrated I believe that the book was shown
to Malevich by Matiushin, who, unlike
Malevich, could understand French. It is
perhaps also significant that 'The Cubo-
Futurists' became formally associated with the
Union of Youth (Soyuz Molodezhi) in March
1913. One of the first of the new members to
speak at a Union-sponsored debate was
Malevich.?
But there seems to be another source
important for the inception of suprematist
forms, which Malevich later said had arisen in
1913 in St Petersburg from certain ideas.
In his account of Russian Futurism entitled

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