19 December
The “Black Square” by Kazmir Malevich was shown for the first time at the “Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings O,10”, which opened on 19 December 1915, in the city thatt used to be St. Petersburg but was just remained Petrograd, to become Leningrad just a few years later.
When “Black Square” was first exhibited, the world was in chaos. It was the middle of the First World War and there was continuing unrest following the 1905 Russian revolution that in 1917 would explode into the October Revolution.
The idea of a just a Black Square was the result of Malevich’s journey to find the “zero” point in painting, as he described it.
At the exhibition, the “Black Square” was placed high up on the wall across the corner of the room. Though this position might look strange but basically means nothing to a non-Russian viewer today, it was a clear signal in Russia at the time, since this was the spot for the sacred icon in a traditional Russian home.
Malevich meant to bring about a revolution in art, alongside the social revolution that was happening. Malevich wanted “Black Square” to be of a special or spiritual significance. He did not intend for it to be a representation of a real thing, but a symbol of a dawning new age.
“Up until now there were no attempts at painting as such, without any attribute of real life… Painting was the aesthetic side of a thing, but never was original and an end in itself”
It was a big success. He produced various versions of Black Square and sometimes used a black square to sign his paintings. Which however, does not make it easier for scholars now to recognise fakes.
In fact Malevich has made it to the top ten list of most faked artists of all times. Probably, there are many saying “even my 4 years old could have done that”.
How untrue! We have analysed several wannabe and no, there is no comparison with the original ones. Do not try this at home: materials and aging will tell the thruth!
