White on White

With reference to Marjorie’s post “Art”, the play, and, I suppose the recent threads re Art bollocks. I have long been fascinated by the Russian Suprematists—Malevich, Lissitzky, Rodchenko et al—and one of Malevich’s paintings White on White is, I think, a really very interesting painting. To say I find it exciting would be going a little too far probably…hmm…yes, probably, but I do find it stimulating. Whilst pondering on this as a result of Marjorie’s post, I did a little digging and found the smarthistory channel on youtube. And there, they have—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaxhuXIpdj0 I find the ping-pong of the male-female narration to be immensely irritating but I can relate very easily to what they are saying. Many artworks just have to be appreciated within the context of their time, which is why, I think, I can relate much more easily to something like the Suprematists' work than I can to what I dismissively refer to as “…the brown stuff”, because it is much closer to my own time—and I realise that that remark leaves me wide open to a whole variety of comebacks, but I have broad shoulders. As a specific example perhaps, I might cite Victorian narrative painting and I choose this only because it comes to mind and precedes Suprematism relatively closely. Whilst I would not deny the skill in terms of technique it leaves me cold. Furthermore, the cloying, hypocritical, self-righteous sentiments in the imagery just annoy and irritate. Most (I struggle to think of an exception) Renaissance art utilises imagery and iconography that are not relevant to me and that I, in many cases, struggle to interpret. So I’m left only with the appreciation of technique. Now, that can go a long way, it’s true, but it doesn’t excite me or stimulate me. As an aside, Suprematism came out of the revolution and was a dismissal of the bourgeois, Putin, I suspect, would dismiss Suprematist art and embrace the bourgeois.