Malevich in the West

Date

Place

Moscow

Description

Malevich in the West
Nikolay Punin from New York
Lecture-performance
August 1, Friday, 8:00 pm


This story could begin in different places and at different times. It could begin today at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where thousands of visitors daily see and appreciate paintings by Kazimir Malevich, including White on White (1918), which has been continuously on display since 1936. Or it can begin in Moscow, where at the Tretyakov Gallery exhibiting the Russian/Soviet avant-garde, we could hardly see anyone, except for the ever present female guards. There is rarely there is anyone to be found these days in front of the Black Square which had not been on display in the Soviet museums for many decades.

How can one explain these two strangely opposing scenes? How did it come to be that one of the most important artists of the XX century is so respected and appreciated in the West, while neglected, and almost forgotten in the land where he was born and worked his entire life?

About the lecturer: Nikolay Punin from New York is a well-known art theoretician who many years after his death reappeared 2011 with the lecture Malevich in the West during the exhibition/conference Anfang gut. Alles gut. at the Kunshaus in Bregenz. The next year (2012) he gave the same lecture at the exhibition Art Histories
in the VOX (Montreal).

Kazimir Malevich (b. 1879, Urkraine; d. 1935, Russia) is one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Fifty years after his death, Malevich reappeared in 1985 with The Last Futurist Exhibition, which took place in a Belgrade apartment, and with his letter published in the September 1986 issue of Art in America. Since then his works, all dated 1985, have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions.


Admission is free, advanced booking required.

Registration on the eventhttp://garageccc.timepad.ru/event/135333/


The lecture will be in English with simultaneous translation. ID is required for hire of the equipment.


Video of the lecture is available here. 

Images:

1. Tretyakov gallery. Exposition of Malevich.
2. Museum of Modern Art. Exposition of Malevich.
3. The Last Futurist Exhibition.