Artist: Kasimir Malevich (Russian, 1879 - 1935). Title: "Suprematist Composition [with cross]". Medium: Gouache, watercolor, and pen & ink on paper. Date: Composed c1916. Dimensions: Overall size: 8 3/4 x 6 3/4 in. (222 x 171 mm). Lot Note(s): Signed with the initials, lower right. Painted on cream wove paper. Very good to fine condition. Comment(s): Malevich works in any medium are highly sought after and are quite rare at auction. The paintings of the Russian avant-garde have, in general, elicited two types of interpretation: one focuses on issues of technique and style; the other concentrates on social and political issues. The former method is usually applied to Kazimir Malevich’s early paintings, grounded as they are in the forms of Cubism, Futurism, and other contemporaneous art movements; the latter largely avoids Malevich in favor of more politically engaged artists such as El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and Vladimir Tatlin. From the formalist’s standpoint, our present example offered here in this auction is, in its mastery of shapes, a perfect example of his newly created Russian style, Suprematism. [29914-1-16000]