# Suprematism

> Kazimir Malevich's non-objective art, unveiled with the Black Square at the 0.10 exhibition in Petrograd in 1915, reduced painting to pure geometric planes floating in white, infinite space. Through the UNOVIS collective in Vitebsk and El Lissitzky's books it became a graphic language of squares, bars and circles tilted on dynamic diagonals, the seedbed of Constructivist layout.

- Period: 1915–1925
- Where: Eastern Europe
- Origin: Petrograd and Moscow, then Vitebsk (UNOVIS), Russia
- Branch: Avant-garde
- Also known as: Suprematizm, UNOVIS, Non-objective art
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/suprematism/

## How it works

- Reduce every image to pure geometric planes: square, rectangle, circle, cross and bar.
- Float the forms on an open white field that reads as infinite space rather than as a background.
- Tilt the composition on diagonals so planes seem to drift, fly or collide.
- Represent nothing: let scale, overlap and the intervals between forms carry the feeling.
- Keep colour flat and sparse: black and red first, with occasional yellow, blue or green.
- Suggest depth through the relative size and overlap of planes, never through perspective.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (defining)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (defining)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Visual tension](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/visual-tension/) (characteristic)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (characteristic)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (occasional)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (occasional)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (defining)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (defining)
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Ornament-free](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornament-free/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (characteristic)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (characteristic)
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (occasional)
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (defining)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (occasional)

Avoids: Naturalistic depiction, Stylised figuration, Straight photography, Abundant decoration, Horror vacui, Gradients

Palette: #f4f1e8, #121212, #cf2a27, #e9b824, #2a4d8f, #3f7d4e

Typefaces: Russian grotesques (rubleny shrift) as set by Lissitzky, Hand-drawn lithographic lettering of UNOVIS publications

Known for: Kazimir Malevich (Black Square, 1915; Suprematist Composition: White on White, 1918); El Lissitzky (About Two Squares, designed 1920, published 1922); UNOVIS collective, Vitebsk (1920–22); Ilya Chashnik; Nikolai Suetin (Suprematist porcelain for the State Porcelain Factory); Olga Rozanova

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Italian Futurism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/futurism.md) (1909–1944)
- Influenced by: [Cubist Pictorial Space](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cubism.md) (1907–1925)
- Led to: [Russian Constructivism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/constructivism.md) (1917–1934)
- Alike in its design choices: [De Stijl](https://stylogeny.com/styles/de-stijl.md) (1917–1931), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Die Neue Typographie](https://stylogeny.com/styles/new-typography.md) (1923–1940), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Brazilian Concrete Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/brazilian-concrete.md) (1951–1975), 60% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Di Tella Graphic Design (Instituto Torcuato Di Tella)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/di-tella-graphics.md) (1960–1970), 57% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [International Typographic Style](https://stylogeny.com/styles/swiss-international.md) (1950–1975), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bauhaus](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bauhaus.md) (1919–1933), 55% alike

## Real works

- [About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions (Suprematicheskii skaz pro dva kvadrata), construction 'They fly to Earth from afar'](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:About_Two_Squares_05.jpg): El Lissitzky, designed 1920 (Vitebsk), published 1922, Copy of the 1922 Skythen edition inscribed by Jan Tschichold, sold at Swann Auction Galleries, sale 2568, lot 244 (scan via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Front and back cover for the programme of the Congress of Committees of Rural Poverty of the Northern Region (S"ezd komitetov derevenskoi bednoty)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cover_of_the_Programme_for_the_First_Congress_of_Committees_on_Rural_Poverty_(Kazimir_Malevich,_1918).jpg): Kazimir Malevich, autumn 1918, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 4.2001(082), on loan from the Khardzhiev Foundation (museum photograph via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Flight ('Aeroplane Flying'), plate from Suprematism: 34 Drawings (Suprematizm. 34 risunka)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KzimirMalevich-1920-AeroplaneFlying,Suprematism%EF%BC%9A34Drawings.png): Kazimir Malevich, 1920, Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki (scan from the 2017 exhibition catalogue 'Ohara Museum of Art II', Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art; via Wikimedia Commons)

## Sources

- Aleksandra Shatskikh, Black Square: Malevich and the Origin of Suprematism (Yale University Press, 2012)
- Christina Lodder, Russian Constructivism (Yale University Press, 1983)
- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Suprematism”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/suprematism/