1. Red Square, 1915
2. Black Square, 1915
3. Suprematism, 1915
4. Suprematist Composition, 1916
5. Black Cross, 1922
6. Black Circle, 1923
7. Athletes, 1928-30
8. Man in Suprematist Lanscape, 1930-31
The innovative Russian painting of Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) was already well in motion before the 1917 Revolution. Malevich supported Communism, confident that political change would lead Russia to an artistic utopia, right along with moral utopia and material utopia. He continued to cherish these hopes through most of the Twenties, under Lenin. After Stalin came to power, Socialist Realism became the only sanctioned style of painting. Malevich found himself explicitly warned not to produce any more geometrical abstracts. Those in his studio were confiscated.