Kazimierz Malewicz.…For most part of people this name is as mysterious as his “Black Square”. How was his personality formed? How was his spirit defined? Answers to the questions are being searched by researchers, but there was no exact answer found. The undoubtful fact is that his roots were outspreaded from Ukrainian land where he was born and spent the brightest and the most unforgettable moments of his life.
The founder of Suprematism and Cubo-Futurism was born in Kyiv. “Among … houses located on magnificent places, which became an integral part of its scenery, my childhood was going by”, – recalled the artist. His father has been working on sugar-cabins, the boy was living among plant workers, but he tended to be acquainted with village boys. Colorful and patterned rural clothes, ornamented houses, the Sun and the Moon – these are the things which are embodied in the heads of every Ukrainian for all life and it became the very root, which sprouts of the great Art came from.
His memories about Kyiv are about childhood interests and 360-degree view of the painter at the same time: “City has remained to be wonderful in my soul. Houses, constructed from colorful bricks, hills, the Dnieper, far-off horizon, steamboats”. His first works were created “as God sends” and they straightaway attracted a lot of attention.
Studying at Kyiv’s painting school was one of the steps to professionalism. There were lots of challenges after. Having remembered life in far-off Kursk, Malewicz wrote: “Every day we were going to … concert etudes in summer, spring and autumn for about thirty versts a day. We were recalling Ukraine. He (editor’s note – Lev Kvachevskii) and I were Ukrainians.”
Connection between Ukraine, Kyiv and Malewicz hasn’t been cut for all his life. Here are his relatives; his father was buried in Kyiv. The artist’s impact on development and formation of artistic potential during Kyiv’s period were described quite briefly because of the lack of materials.
“Kazimierz Malewicz. Kyiv’s period 1928-1930” – is the common project of “RODOVID” publishing and Kyiv Mohyla Business School, which allowed public to be aware of so far unknown documents. Unique materials meant to reveal gigantic cultural-educational potential of Malewicz, who had been hidden from connoisseurs for a long time.
New conception, which differs human nature from other creatures’ nature, has given a push to develop those whose masterpieces were the foundation of view of life. Materials which had been hidden for a long time in archives of Marjan Kropiwnicki, Malewicz’s assistant in Kyiv’s institute of arts, reveal new pages from life and work of the great Ukrainian.
“Here are artifacts of creating Absolute, presented by Malewicz, are the evidence of his life battle, search, failures and disappointments”, – prefaces Oleksandr Savryk, dean of Kyiv Mohyla Business School.
Important documents, still unknown publications, personal letters, scratches and reproductions of his works are included in a book “Kazimierz Malewicz. Kyiv’s period 1928-1930”. Complier of the book and author of the idea is a researcher Tetiana Filevska. Together with Olesia Drashkaba, creative director of Ukrainian crisis media center will tell about the role of Kazimierz Malewicz in Ukrainian avant-garde.
Listen to the lecture and join the discussion you can do on the 4th of April in “Lviv Chocolate Workshop”, where having cultural meetings is a well-known tradition.
Address of “Lviv Chocolate Workshop”:
7, Peremohy square
Translated by Aliona Matushevich
