1878-1935
Russian painter, printmaker, decorative artist and writer of Ukranian birth. One of the pioneers of abstract art, Malevich was a central figure in a succession of avant-garde movements during the period of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 and immediately after. The style of severe geometric abstraction with which he is most closely associated, SUPREMATISM, was a leading force in the development of CONSTRUCTIVISM, the repercussions of which continued to be felt throughout the 20th century. His work was suppressed in Soviet Russia in the 1930s and remained little known during the following two decades. The reassessment of his reputation in the West from the mid-1950s was matched by the renewed influence of his work on the paintings of Ad Reinhardt and on developments Related Paintings of Kazimir Malevich :. | peasant and horse | Flowergirl | trees | Two Women in a Gardenr | Mower | Related Artists:
VARIN, QuentinFrench Painter, ca.1570-1634
French painter. He was the son of a shoemaker and from 1597 to 1600 was in the papal territory of Avignon, where he worked with a local painter, Pierre Duplan ( fl late 16th century), enrolling also in the local painters' guild. By 1607 he had returned to northern France, and he was married that year at Amiens. In 1612 he was working in the Norman village of Les Andelys, and there he became Nicolas Poussin's first master. For the Gothic church of Notre-Dame, Le Grand Andely, he produced in 1612 a Martyrdom of St Vincent, a Martyrdom of St Clarus and a Regina Coeli (all in situ), the works that provided Poussin with his first contact with contemporary painting. These are the earliest fixed points in Varin's oeuvre, although a ruined Rock of the Philosophers (Rouen, Mus. B.-A.), reminiscent of such late 16th-century French Mannerist painters as Antoine Caron,
Jean-Pierre Franque French, 1774-1860,French painter. He and his twin brother, Joseph-Boniface Franque (1774-1833), who was also a painter, were the sons of a modest farmer and, according to a local story, their youthful talent was such that the provincial government paid for them to study in Grenoble. They enrolled at the Ecole Gratuite in Grenoble and stayed for about two years (1786-8), training to become engravers. During the revolutionary period, the twins' education was taken over by the Departement de la Dreme. In 1792 their case was discussed at the National Assembly in Paris, which placed them in David's atelier and provided a pension for four years. David agreed to educate them but refused payment, writing to the President of the Assembly, 'I am overjoyed to be chosen to be the first teacher of these youths who could be called children of the nation since they owe everything to her.' The two brothers were considered very promising students, and David asked Jean-Pierre to assist him in the execution of the Intervention of the Sabine Women (1796-9; Paris, Louvre). Jean-Pierre also became involved with LES PRIMITIFS and the mysterious Maurice Quae (1779-1804), who reacted against Davidian principles and advocated a return to 'primitive' 15th-century Italian art. Franque demonstrated his independence from David in the selection of the subject for his 1806 Salon debut, the Dream of Love Induced by the Power of Harmony (destr.). In the spring of 1807 he was one of the 26 painters who entered a sketch (untraced) for the competition for a large painting representing Napoleon on the battlefield of Eylau, a competition won by Gros. In 1810 Franque produced Allegory of the Condition of France before the Return from Egypt (Paris, Louvre).
Mannheim, JeanGerman-born American Painter, 1861-1945