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Posts Tagged ‘Kasimir Malevich’

Art and Walks in London - More Tate Modern

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

So, to continue where we left off when we introduced you to the Energy and Process wing at Tate Modern, and told you a bit about which of our London walks end close to Tate Modern so that you can pay it a visit

We were in the Energy and Process wing trying to make sense of Dynamic Suprematism by the Russian Artist Kasimir Malevich and got as far as explaining that what, at first glance, seems like a meaningless jumble of different shapes is, in fact, a very spiritual and mystical work.

In a later post we will look at a painting by a leading member of the Futurist art movement that came out of Italy in 1909.

Like the Futurists Malevich was very excited by the brave new technological world that the dawning of the 20th century had ushered in.

Scientific advancements such as motor cars and airplanes had given people a radically different perception of speed and movement.

Mankind could travel faster than ever before. He could look down on landscapes from high above and, in so doing, gain a totally new perspective on the world and his surroundings.

But for Russia in 1915, at the time when Malevich painted Dynamic Suprematism, the new technological age was about something more than a mere altering of peoples perspectives and perceptions about their surroundings - it was a catalyst for cataclysmic, huge social upheaval that would culminate in the Russian Revolution of 1918 and the overthrow of the Czar.

Malevich and his fellow, left wing artists were eagerly awaiting the coming of this new Russia and the resultant government by the people and for the people.

So this should be looked at as the art of a coming new world. An art that would replace religious icons with a simplicity that would enable people to look into and ponder a painting.

Indeed, just as the religious icons of old were intended to make you stop and ponder the world beyond, so to does Dynamic Suprematism make you forget about the materialism of art and look instead at the meaning behind the art.

So there we end our look at the work of Kasimir Malevich in Tate Modern’s Energy and Process wing.

Tomorrow we’ll pick up on the work that stares across at it in the dialogue room, Richard Serra’s Trip Hammer.

In the meantime, why not join us on a London walk to explore the places that surround Tate Modern and to enjoy a stroll over the Millennium Bridge following in the foosteps of Shakespeare and Dickens.?

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Dynamic Suprematism - Art Walks London

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Art on Our London walks.

It’s amazing how many times art turns up on our Walks in London. It might be a little bit of street furniture or an entire dummy window painted to resemble a family sitting room such as the one encountered on our City of London walks.

Earlier today we began looking at a work in the Energy and Process wing of Tate Modern that was painted by the Russian artist Kasimir Malevich entitled Dynamic Suprematism.

We explained how at first glance it might seem like just a group of geometric objects, such as triangles and rectangles and crosses. However, we then explained how Malevich intended the viewing of his work to be a spiritual experience for the spectator.

In that respect Dynamic Suprematism is very much a spiritual and mystical painting. Try as you might, there is nothing for your eyes to actually focus on in the work. The shapes themselves are slightly tilted - pushing and pulling against each other.  Shapes are painted over shapes or else balanced, almost precariously, on top of each other - so you actually do get a sense of movement but your eye just can’t rest on it nor can they focus on any one part of the painting.

In essence that is the meaning behind Dynamic Suprematism, for Malevich wants us to stop thinking about the material of the painting and, instead, hewants us to look into the painting. As Malevich himself once said “art should be liberated from the dead weight of the material world.”

When it was first displayed the painting caused a sensation. It is still a very radical piece, even by today’s standards, so you can imagine the effect it had on a Russia that was used to high art and religious iconography.

We’ll continue with this theme later today, in the meantime why not check out one of  our Shakespeare Walks of London that take in the south side of the River Thames and after which you can, if you wish, pay a visit to Tate Modern.

You can also join us on one of our London Art Walks.

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London Art Walks - Tate Modern

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

In a previous post we began looking at a building that is passed on many of our south London walks, Tate Modern. Today we look at one of the paintings on display inside Tate Modern.

On level five you will find the gallery Energy and Process. The Central Hub of this gallery is dedicated to the Arte Povera Movement, an Italian Art movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

The late sixties was a period of great social upheaval, not just in Italy but also across the rest of Europe and in North America.

Artists began to attack the status quo of government, industry and culture. They started to question whether art as a private expression of the individual could still exist ethically in their society.

In Italy a group of artists began using materials that were not readily associated with art - every day objects such as industrial beams, metal,  rags and even statutory purchased from garden centres.

The movement became known as Arte Povera, or Poor Art and we’ll look at the central hub of this is a later London Walking Tours posting.

However, to reach the hub of the Energy and Process wing you must first enter the dialogue room where a very strange looking painting confronts you.

The painting is called Dynamic Suprematism and it was painted in 1915 or 1916 by the Russian Artist Kasimir Malevich.

One of the things that we stress time and again on our London walks is the importance of looking, and this applies particularly with some of the art in Tate Modern.

At first glance Dynamic Suprematism looks like a series of meaningless and jumbled shapes. Triangles, rectangles, cones and semi-circles lean against each other. They push and pull against each other, or else they balance precariously on top of each other.

But what Malevich wants us to look at the painting as a spiritual experience and in so doing to look into the void,  to see across the abyss and, perhaps, even glimpse, eternity itself.

For what Malevich has tried to do with Dynamic Suprematism is to replace the traditional high art and religious iconography of pre revolution Russia with a geometric simplicity that does away with with the need for the artist to depict the external world. He wants the artist to, as Malevich  himself put it, “swim in a white free abyss” and, in so doing, to presented the viewer with a suggestion of the third dimension.

In our later post we will look at what Malevich is trying to portray with Dynamic Suprematism, meanwhile why not join one of our London walks that take in the wonderful Industrial Cathedral that is Tate Modern?

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