Sieg über die Sonne - Der russische Maler Kasimir Malewitsch (1879-1935)

"Victory Over the Sun - The Russian Painter Kazimir Malevich" Documentary BR 2001 by Angelika Lizius. Recorded by BR-Alpha, May 15, 2010. For Western Europe, 20th-century Russian art remains a virtually unexplored continent. This is also true of Kazimir Malevich, one of the most important artists and theorists of the Soviet avant-garde. In his early work, he—like many of his compatriots—initially adapted Western art movements, especially Impressionism, and later also the painting of the Fauves, Expressionism, Futurism, and Cubism, attempting to fuse them with Russian folk art. The subsequent radical break with all previous artistic traditions made him the leading theorist of the Russian art revolution. Malevich's search for the "structure of the world"—also aided by mathematical, perceptual-psychological, and scientific insights—led him to become a supporter of the October Revolution, as he hoped to achieve not only political but also aesthetic transformation of the world. In 1918, Malevich became a professor at the Moscow Academy, and later at the Leningrad Academy. However, already in the first half of the 1920s, he lost his dominant position in the Soviet avant-garde and returned to figurative painting, likely also because art policy increasingly demanded utility and a "positive" view of humanity. Malevich developed Suprematism (from the ancient Latin supremus, "the highest"). Suprematism is a style of modern art, related to Futurism and Constructivism. It originated in Russia and was influential from 1913 until the early 1930s. ``` Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (Russian: Казимир Северинович Малевич, scientific transliteration Kazimir Severinovič Malevič, Ukrainian: Казимир Северинович Малевич Kasymyr Severynovych Malevych, Polish: Kazimierz Malewicz; * February 11 (Julian) / February 23 (Norwegian) 1879 in Kiev, Russian Empire; † May 15, 1935 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) was a painter and a leading figure of the Russian avant-garde, a pioneer of Constructivism, and the founder of Suprematism. He was influenced by Late Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism. His abstract Suprematist painting Black Square on a White Ground from 1915 is considered a milestone of modern painting and is described as an "icon of modernism". (Wikipedia)