Suprematist Architecture: a Plane Drawing Architectural History Thesis on Suprematist Architecture by Kazimir Malevich Delft University of Technology Fenna Regenboog April 2021 ABSTRACT The thesis examines the unbuilt Suprematist architecture through the architectural drawings made by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) over the period 1923-24. By looking into the expression of non-objectivity in the built object, the study complements the current body of knowledge of Suprematism and architectural form development in the twentieth century. The research is constructed of a literature review and analysis of three architectural drawings by Malevich. Malevich envisioned an urban environment which form originates from Suprematist principles. Although the thesis has been able to establish the relation between Suprematism and the architectural form, there remains discussion to whether architectural principals or utopianism underlie the argument to why Suprematist architecture has not been constructed. Keywords, Kazimir Malevch, Suprematism, Architecture, Drawing, Non-Objectivity Delft University of Technology April 2021 AR2A011 Architectural History Thesis Dr. mr. E. Korthals Altes Fenna Regenboog Title page image, Kazimir Malevich in his Atelier, retrieved march 2021 from https://www.nrc.nl/ nieuws/2017/12/27/kosten-restauratie-eerst-betalen-dan-mogelijke-malevich-terug-a1586293 CONTENT CHAPTER 1 Introduction p7 CHAPTER 2 Suprematism and the Planar Painting p9 Suprematism p9 Malevich and Suprematist Painting p11 CHAPTER 3 Architectural Drawings of Kazimir Malevich p15 Suprematist Architecture p15 The Architectural Form p17 The Architectural Drawing p19 CHAPTER 4 Discussion and Conclusion p25 4 5 CHAPTER 1 Introduction In the early twentieth century, the form and tempo of the city started changing as result of rapid industrialization. Therefore, it became apparent for painters to search for a new formative language that would capture the new dynamics of the city. The previous portraying of the perceptual beauty of nature became in contradiction with the artistic self, the painter had to go back to the primitive form. The search for an artistic language that would represent expressiveness, structure and simplicity of technique was a direct product of the experiments earlier done by Van Gogh, Gaugin and Cézanne (Gombrich & Houtzager, 1996). The search eventually led to a break between the reproduction of the perceptive and the new formative language in painting. In this period, the Russian painter Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) developed the non-objective expression of Suprematism. With the principles of Suprematism, Malevich created a significant turning point in twentieth century painting. However, the exploration of non-objective painting was not enough for the artist, and from the twenties onwards, his work focused on translating his objectives on art to everyday life. The built environment became subject of the Suprematist form. By projecting his principles onto the built form, architecture became a new artistic style that would serve alone the purpose of beauty. ‘Our contemporaries must understand that life will not be content of art, but rather that art must become the content of life, since only thus can life be beautiful.’ Kazimir Malevich (In Beeren, Joosten & Veneman-Boersma, 1989, p 131) In the twenties Malevich captured his objectives is several arkhitektonies and architectural drawings, and also in his theoretical work of The Non-Objective World (1959). The principles of Suprematism reached beyond the borders of Russia; The Non-Objective World was included in the curriculum of Walter Gropius’ Bauhaus School of Architecture (Frampton, 2020) and in 1924 his work was on display in the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (Barnett, 1992). Malevich and the non-objective form were not only of great significance in time of its origin, even in contemporary practice of painting and architecture his work remains to inspire, and thus of importance. The arkhitektony reappears in Rem Koolhaas’ The City of the Captive Globe Project (figure 1.1) and Suprematist architecture has greatly influenced the architectural practice of Zaha Hadid. Nevertheless, the Suprematist architecture of Malevich has never been translated to the built form, the Suprematist principles only came into built form by El Lissitzky and Lazar Khidekel (Tates, Rutten & Imanse, 2013). Hence, the question arises why the principles of Suprematism were never translated to the built object by design of Malevich himself, and why his ideas on the architectural translation of Suprematism only remain to be traced on paper. Despite a remarkable amount of research regarding Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism in painting, the subject of Suprematist architecture remains to be obscure in academic writing. Thus, in the framework of drawing, the aspiration of this paper is to discover why the Suprematist architectural drawings of Malevich of the period 1923-24 have not been constructed. A literature review will create a theoretical framework from which three architectural drawings of Malevich - Future ‘Planity’ for Earth Dwellers, Modern Building and The Pilot’s Planit – will be analyzed to distinguish how the Suprematist principles are manifested in the architectural object. The first chapter will provide an overview of Suprematism, the non-objective form, and Malevich’s artistic development in painting. The following chapter will proceed with Malevich’s vision for Suprematist architecture and the analysis of the architectural drawings. The final chapter will discuss and conclude with the notion Figure 1.1 The City of the Captive Globe Peroject by R. Koolhaas and M. Vriesendorp (1972), Museum of Modern Art, New York City of Suprematist architecture in drawing and how the thesis contributes to the wider understanding of architectural history and theory. 6 7 CHAPTER 2 Suprematism and the Planar Painting The development of Malevich’s artistic expression created his momentum, and he rapidly became part of the Russian avant-garde, for the origination of Suprematism and his philosophical theory of non-objectivity (Beeren, Joosten &Veneman- Boersma, 1989). This chapter will introduce the definitions of Suprematism and the principles of non-objectivity, after which Malevich’s artistic progress in painting will be discussed in a chronological order. Suprematism ‘Under Suprematism I understand the supremacy of pure feeling in creative art. To the Suprematist the visual phenomena of the objective world are, in themselves, meaningless; the significant thing is feeling, as such, quite apart from the environment in which it is called forth. The so-called ‘materializaton’ of a feeling in the conscious mind really means a materialization of the reflection of that feeling through the medium of some realistic conception. Such a Suprematist art, but in art generally, because the enduring, true value of a work of art resides solely in the feeling expressed.’ Kazimir Malevich (1959; p67) The formation of Suprematism is, in Malevich’s opinion, a natural product of the progress of art. Art itself is not a reactionary activity, it is a progressive activity and therefore is not the act of merely reproducing the perceptive. The artist is to be aware of the conscious and subconscious state of mind in order to grasp the artistic value that lays beyond the sensible world, he is to be actively involved in the process of creation (Malevich, 1959). Cézanne started this movement of new artistic expression by composing the natural phenomena not only with reproducing the objective world, but by distorting the perceptive in order to create a balanced composition (Gombrich & Houtzager, 1996). Malevich (1959) thereby recognizes the introduction of the additional element – the attribute of a (artistic) culture and its expression in painting – which for Cézannism is characterized by the loose and light line that tries to imitate nature. The development of artistic form is followed by Cubism, a projection of realism which destroys the familiar aesthetic order of the ‘established’. The additional element of the canvas transforms into the crystalline, which properties origin in geometric form. Malevich detects the additional element of the Cubists in the work of the Futurist, only it no longer appears static, but is transformed into a dynamic line which echoes the movement of the city. Futurism thereby borders on a new artistic culture, that of Suprematism. Suprematism is the projection of pure feeling on the canvas, it is no longer restricted by the limitations of the objective world and therefore is described by Malevich as the non-objective projection. The phenomena of the objective world is without value, if not for the feeling it signifies. The mere purpose of art is to capture the world of will and idea, the non-objective world. This art is defined by the pure form, it only exists in and for itself (Malevich, 1959). The value of Suprematist art is therefore captured in the additional element of the straight line. As described in The Non-Objective World (1959), the Suprematist additional element expresses pure feeling, seeking no practical values, no ideas, no ‘promised land’; it lives beyond the time of its creation. The artistic form of Suprematism comes to be universal, as in the end, it is beauty itself. ‘The only obligation to nature which mankind has taken upon itself – namely to create art’ (Malevich, 1959; p84). Thus, Suprematist art obtains permanence, as it solely translates the feeling. Malevich