Kazimir Malevich (Born 1878) was born near Kiev, Russia. He was avant-garde painter, who founded the school of abstract painting style referred to as Suprematist. He got his training from the Stroganov School in Moscow, the Kiev School of Art, and the Moscow School of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting. In his early work Malevich followed Fauvism as well as Symbolism and Impressionism, and, after 1912 following a trip to Paris, he was influenced by Cubism and Picasso. He led the Russian Cubist movement as a member of the Jack of Diamonds group. In 1913 he created abstract geometrical patterns in a style he referred to as Suprematism. He used this term to bring the notion that shape, line, and color should have power over narrative or subject matter in art. He taught painting in Leningrad and Moscow from 1919 to 1921, where he lived the rest of his life. Malevich visited the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany where he got acquainted with Wassily Kandinsky and published a book on his theory under the title “The Nonobjective World” (Die gegenstandslose Welt).
Malevich was the first artist to exhibit paintings comprising abstract geometrical elements. In his work, he constantly strove to produce purely intellectual compositions, renouncing all representation and sensuality in art. In the course of his work, he got fascinated with aviation and aerial photography and this led him to abstractions derived from or inspired by aerial landscapes. Malevich died of cancer on May 15, 1935 in Leningrad. His ashes were sent to Nemchinovka, and buried near his dacha in a field.
