Material reenactment: The missing and replaced paintings of Malevich’s 1929 retrospective

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Published

2016-12-12

Issue

Section

Museums and exhibitions between WWI and WWII: Essays

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/1391

Authors

  • Marie Gasper-Hulvat Kent State University at Stark

Abstract

In 1927, Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich was recalled by Soviet authorities from Berlin, where he had received critical acclaim during a journey abroad. He returned to Moscow, leaving behind in Germany the paintings with which he had travelled. It was a cache that represented his entire painterly career. In 1929, Malevich found himself granted a retrospective exhibition at the foremost museum of Russian art in the Soviet capital, the Tretiakov Gallery. With the bulk of the material evidence of his career now missing, the artist responded by producing forty new canvases. In this article, I propose that Malevich’s exhibition of 1929 represented an attempt to materially reenact his own career, producing a counterfeit simulation of what might have happened. Furthermore, I explain how an exhibition of his work held in 2000 signifi cantly altered the scholarly discussion of the works displayed in 1929.

Nel 1927, le autorità sovietiche richiamarono l’artista dell’avanguardia russa Kazimir Malevich da Berlino, dove si era recato per un viaggio all’estero e dove aveva ricevuto un’accoglienza critica. Malevich tornò a Mosca lasciando in Germania le opere con le quali aveva viaggiato, una serie che documentava interamente la sua carriera pittorica. Nella capitale sovietica gli fu dedicata, due anni dopo, una mostra retrospettiva, ospitata dal principale museo di arte russa di Mosca, la Galleria Tretiakov. Sebbene buona parte delle prove materiali del suo lavoro fosse andata perduta, l’artista rispose producendo quaranta nuove tele. Scopo di questo articolo è dimostrare come la mostra del 1929 costituisca un tentativo, da parte di Malevich, di ricostruire la sua carriera per produrre una simulazione di quello che avrebbe potuto essere. Inoltre si documenta come una mostra dedicata nel 2000 all’artista ha contribuito all’analisi critica della esposizione del 1929.

 

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Author Biography

Marie Gasper-Hulvat, Kent State University at Stark

Assistant Professor, School of Art, Art History

How to Cite

Gasper-Hulvat, M. (2016). Material reenactment: The missing and replaced paintings of Malevich’s 1929 retrospective. Il Capitale Culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, (14), 347–368. https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/1391