Kasimir Malevich

O novykh sistemakh v isskustve: statika i skorost [On new systems in art: statics and speed]. (Vitebsk, 1919)

4to (227 x 182mm.), [limited to 1000 copies], lithographed manuscript text, 3 plates and a 3-part pictorial structure of Cubism by Malevich, original upper wrapper comprising text and illustrations by Lissitzky, plates (originally loose) attached at front, in navy buckram folder, backstrip repaired

This was Malevich's first major published piece in which he explains the principles behind his innovations in art, which was subsequently used by Narkompros as the definitive statement on modernist art. Malevich joined the Vitebsk Popular Art🅷 Institute in 1919 at the invitation of Lissitzky, and because of a shortage of paper he had the book produced by Lissitzky in his students' workshop at the college. The manuscript text is interspersed with Malevich's trademark Suprematist squares, rectangles and circles.

LITERATURE:

The Russian Avant-Garde Book 236; Hellyer 369