Russian Art

Malevich, K. S. "Red Cavalry at Full Gallop, Detail". 1928 - 1932

Notes: Detail from "Red Cavalry at Full Gallop" "Red Cavalry at Full Gallop," like many of the splendid Malevich works in the State Russian Museum, was accessioned from the USSR Ministry of Culture in 1977. An earlier statement by the artist helps explain his orchestration of color in this canvas and in the figurative paintings of 1928-1932: "I have conquered the lines of the colored sky, I have plucked the colors, put them into a bag I have made, and tied it with a knot." (From the catalogue of the Tenth State Exhibition: "Nonobjective Creation and Suprematism," Moscow, 1919.) This canvas has the aura of the best early twentieth-century American painting -- a sense of overwhelming nature as a backdrop for the activities of men. However the origins and theme of the Malevich painting are a world removed. On the reverse, a Russian inscription reads "The Red Cavalry gallops from the capital of the October Revolution to defend the Soviet border." This canvas could also be viewed as a precursor of certain American color-field paintings of the 1960s in its expansiveness and rich color. However, it should be noted that color-field paintings were larger in size and devoid of recognizable imagery and any suggestion of depth.