The Black Square Gone to New York

Exhibition of Kazimir Malevich's works opened in New York
An exhibition "Kazimir Malevich: Suprematism" opened in the Guggenheim museum in New York after it gathered the largest audience of 70,000 people within January – April in the Guggenheim museum's branch in Berlin. The number of people attracted by the exhibition is the largest over the whole 5-year history of the Guggenheim-Berlin museum.

As the chief keeper of Russia's State Tretyakov Gallery, Yekaterina Selezneva says, the Russian vanguard art doesn't enjoy so much success at home. Visitors of the Tretyakov Gallery mostly prefer realistic art; it is highly likely they won't even notice that Malevich's Black Square has been sent to Guggenheim.

It was really a hard task to make a decision to sent the main work of Kazimir Malevich to the exposition in New York. The Black Square wasn't in a perfect condition, some workers of the Russian art gallery even feared a long journey might cause harm to the picture. Nevertheless, opinion of the Russian Museum in St.Petersburg and of consultants from the Guggenheim museum persuaded the Tretyakov Gallery management to include the picture into the New York exposition. Indeed, introduction of Malevich’s suprematism would be incomplete without the Black Square.

In addition to the works by Malevich presented by the Tretyakov Gallery, the largest over the past ten years exhibition also includes works by the famous artist that were presented by the Russian Museum, by Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum and famous individual collectors. For example, Malevich's White Cross came from Holland. This is the picture on which several years ago Moscow artist Alexander Brenner sprayed a dollar sign with an aerosol of green paint. He was convicted by the prosecution for the doing. Now the picture is restored so wonderfully that some people even doubt it may be that very White Cross.

Larisa Yusipova
Vedomosti