Kazimir Malevich
Polish-Ukrainian painter, 1878-1935
Kazimir Malevich was a Polish-Ukrainian painter and art theoretician. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the avant-garde Suprematist movement. In April 2002 the painting was auctioned for an equivalent of US$1 million. On 3 November 2008 a work by Malevich entitled Suprematist Composition from 1916 set the world record for any Russian work of art and any work sold at auction for that year, selling at Sotheby's in New York City for just over US$60 million (surpassing his previous record of US$17 million set in 2000).
Source: Wikipedia
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. Nemchinovka. 8vo. 3 pp. on 3 ff.
$ 50,266 / 48.000 €
(47591/BN32252)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalja, a lyrical letter on celebrating Christmas in Moscow (while she was in Leningrad) and how much he desires to live with her "in a new place", as "Leningrad has spoiled me" (transl.).
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. Nemchinovka. 21.04.1932. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. With autograph address.
$ 29,322 / 28.000 €
(47663/BN32581)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalja, reporting how he spends his days, on his appointments with Ivan Klyun and others, on waiting for the meeting of the construction committee, and trying to sell works to an Ukrainian museum: "[...] It is warm outside, but there is still snow in the woods, it's dirty, and it's raining heavily. Less bread will be issued in Moscow as of the 1st, and there will be no white bread. People are hungry [...]" (transl.).
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. [Moscow]. 22.05.1929. Small 4to. 2 pp.
$ 52,360 / 50.000 €
(47664/BN32582)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya, on meetings with commissioners for foreign trade, an official trip, etc. "[...] I'm dreadfully tired, wandering through the storeys like a travelling salesman, visiting all companies there, hurrying from one manager to the other; I just finished my work at the Tretyakova yesterday, on the 20th. Then I went to Nemchinovka, but only for a while, but at least Klyun was there, and so we went to Barvikha. Unochka scolded me for being away from home so often, but it took me a whole week only to get the porcelain thing settled.
My meetings and appointments with various officials from the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade as well as myself make a huge impression. I even imagined myself the lying stone under which no water flows, and when this stone rose the water began to swirl and to bubble. But by now, everything is set up. And everything seems to be quite well now, but let us see. The People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade promptly sent a note to the Leningrad porcelain factory telling them to enter negotiations with me at once, also to the Silicate Trest and the Wallpaper Trest etc. What with all this bustle, Suyetin and I will have so much to do that I can't tell how we shall stand it. It has already come so far that Exports is going to send me on a business trip abroad. Today (Wednesday) I'm giving my lecture to the assistants, all of Thursday I will spend with Unochka, and on Friday I'm going to buy the ticket, though I do not know for which day they'll give me one. I long for you and fear that this longing will prevent me from bringing the whole thing to an end. I expect to leave on Sunday [...]" (transl.)..
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. Moscow. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. With autograph address.
$ 25,133 / 24.000 €
(47666/BN32585)
To his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about his journey to Moscow: "[...] The trip was all right, I had a compartment of my own. The train was a fast one, so that I even shook from time to time. The weather here is fine, the sun is shining and I am heading straight for Nemchinovka [...]" (transl.).
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. Kiev. 20.12.1929. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. With autograph address.
$ 26,180 / 25.000 €
(47667/BN32586)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), on being terribly busy, and some plans to meet her on the 25th: "[...] I bought the ticket via Moscow again, so if I do not stop over in Moscow for a day because of the matter with Glawiskusstwo and the porcelain, I will arrive on the morning of the 25th by fast train, or on the morning of the 26th if I must stay the day [...] Overshoes cannot be found here, they have only black ones, but only upon presentation of the receipt. Maybe I'll get some at Moscow [...] I don't know how it will work out in Kiev. There is a lot of trouble at the moment [...]".
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter fragment signed. Leningrad (St. Petersburg) [?]. 8vo (125:130 mm). 1½ pp.
$ 25,133 / 24.000 €
(47668/BN32587)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about the chaos going on at the State People's Home (Gosnardom) at Alexandrovsky Park, Leningrad ("A complete refurbishment will be realised next year, so I have to work from 10 to 7 just to get the most urgent things done"), on plans to travel with Angelina, for which reason he wants to receive his wages much earlier than usual: "[...] I am going to bed now, can hardly stand on my feet anymore. After work is done, one has to run around for two hours to find something to eat. My canteen has been closed, and all that's left are shabby bars [...]".
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. [Moscow. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. With autograph address.
$ 25,133 / 24.000 €
(47669/BN32588)
To his third wife, Natalja, on Unochka's recovery, sending some money by money order, and some common friends: "[...] There is frost in Moscow. I went in a railway carriage on Wednesday, it was extremely cold since they do not heat yet [...] Und dann muss ich noch im Maljarstroi [Staatlicher Trest für Design im Bauwesen] sein, [drei unleserliche Wörter]. Ich hätte einen Brief geschrieben, aber es war kein Papier vorhanden und ich schreibe im ‚Künstler'." (transl. from the Russian original).
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. [Moscow and Nemchinovk]. 09.02.1932. Oblong 8vo. 1¼ pp. With autograph address. In pencil.
$ 29,322 / 28.000 €
(47670/BN32589)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about a campaign against him raised by the AKhRR (Assotsiatsia Khudozhnikov Revolutsionnoi Rossii - Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia), and on being accused of formalism: "I am running about; the matters stand so that one cannot speak of it; it turns out there is a government campaign [?] against me, labelling me a Formalist [...] Therefore, there is nothing for me anywhere, not even for my urn [...] but I shall sue and refute them [...]".
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. [Nemchinovk]. 8vo. 3 pp. on bifolium. Page 4 written by his daughter Una.
$ 17,279 / 16.500 €
(47671/BN32590)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about fighting against the AKhRR (Assotsiatsia Khudozhnikov Revolutsionnoi Rossii - Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia), appointments with Kirill Ivanovich Shutko (with whom he talked about Dziga Vertov), Archangelski, M. P. Kristi, and Aleksei Gan, who wished to publish two essays by him. "A new AKhRR campaign against the new artistic currents has begun here, but it's their bad luck that now my camp is gaining the upper hand, and so they haven't a leg to stand on.
I went to the Tretyakovka gallery and saw Kristi; on Friday I will be back there speaking about the new department and possibly about my works [...] I think I have already mentioned everything. I will receive my payment on Monday and then go and buy the tickets; I expect to be in Leningrad on Wednesday [...]". - In her postscript, Malevich's daughter Una (then aged nine) reports how happy she was that her father had come to celebrate Christmas with her. - K. I. Shutko (1884-1941) was editor-in-chief of the magazine "Soviet Cinema"..
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. [Nemchinovk]. 26.04.1932. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. With autograph address.
$ 26,180 / 25.000 €
(47672/BN32591)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about a committee meeting which appreciated his project, and about the closure of several artists' associations. His nephew Edsik (brother of Malevich's brother Myachislav) will buy some tickets, and he himself expects an advance payment. "[...] As for the cottages, it looks quite bad. A shared bathroom between 400 and 500 rubles. Neli promises to get a room and a terrace from a friend [...]".
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. [Nemchinovk]. 20.07.1932. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. With autograph address.
$ 29,322 / 28.000 €
(47674/BN32593)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about his arrival at Moscow and Kirill Ivanovich Shutko (1884-1941), the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Soviet Cinema", who was earmarked as candidate for the office of Director of the GAKhN (State Academy of Artistic Sciences), a meeting place for avant-garde from 1923 to 1929. "[...] I had a long conversation with him and tried to convince him to accept this assignment. At the moment, he is heading for Rome, and will leave on July 27. He is now working on a book called 'Lenin and Culture' [...]". - Trace of vertical fold.
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph postcard signed. [Nemchinovk]. 19.05.1933. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. With autograph address.
$ 26,180 / 25.000 €
(47675/BN32594)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90): "I have received all your letters, it upsets me a good deal, everything is particularly difficult if you are upset, but I still cannot leave. It is very difficult to leave. I have taken steps through Narkompros [the People's Commissariat for Education] and obtained a ticket for May 23. I will arrive around 12 o'clock noon [...] Unfortunately, I cannot send any money for I have not drawn my salary [...]".
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. Nemchinovk. 10.09.1933. 2 pp. Large 4to.
$ 47,124 / 45.000 €
(47676/BN32595)
In Russian, a long letter to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), in which Malevich describes the terrible situation in which he finds himself: he has no money to receive medical treatment while his health is deteriorating, nor for the rent of his dacha; the landlord is urging him to sign the contract. Moreover, his relationship to his brother Myachislav has become very difficult, Myachislav having "transgressed all fraternal boundaries": "[...] We had no family relationship from our earliest years onwards, but now it has reached a level of indecency which is no longer tenable [...] He is thoroughly an official, and although he knows the situation in which I find myself, he has not left me a single piece of bread or sugar [...] and accuses me of having caused material damage to him by preventing him from marriage [...]".
- Small pinhole, touching one letter, but without loss..
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. Moscow. 14.09.1933. 4to. 3½ pp. on 2 ff. With autogr. envelope.
$ 68,068 / 65.000 €
(47677/BN32596)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalja, on a day he and Ivan Vassilyevitch Kljun spent together attending an exhibition of the Red Workers' and Peasants' Army and visiting officials. Kljun urged him to have his hair cut, as Malevich resembled a "savage". They failed to meet Lobanov, who wanted a landscape. "[...] You cannot imagine my sentiments. What else should I do, and how wait? I am completely starved, and although I have eaten quite well these two days at Ivan Vassilyevitch's, there is no way I might be satiated, and after all, I cannot live at his place, and there is nowhere for me to go.
I still have no money to go to Nemchinovka and stay there overnight [...] It's simply a nightmare when the thought turns up that something might happen to me, a severe mental illness might afflict me. Tomorrow I will try to see mother, maybe I can raise some money there [...]". Also, Malevich mentions his difficult relationship with his brother, and that he avoids seeing him: "That's what it amounts to, when a man has not a penny, they all start to lecture you and call you a fool [...] Yes, this is hard indeed for me; when people find out that you have to money, they change their ways entirely. [...]" (transl.)..
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. Moscow. 14.05.1929. 4to. 2 pp.
$ 62,832 / 60.000 €
(47678/BN32597)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalja, about an experience during his travel to Moscow, his daily work, a proposed business trip abroad, his daughter Una, etc.: "[...] Today, on the 14th, I started working at the Tretjakowa. I was promised to sell a drawing soon [...] I called upon the Main Administration for Literary and Arts Affairs, but, as usual, they promised to make arrangements for a separate meeting and to talk to Shutko. Chwojnik sent me a note regarding my business trip abroad. It is all about not being willing to give one single Dollar in foreign currency [...] Chwojnik, who is head of the artistic department, is publishing characterstics of Russian artists and asks me to act as a model.
In general, they all behave well to me. My beloved Natalja, don't let yourself get bored, don't get upset, don't lose weight. During this journey I have to do everything to lay in provisions for the winter [...]" (transl.)..
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. [Moscow. Large 8vo. 1½ pp. Written in blue and red ink. With autogr. envelope.
$ 47,124 / 45.000 €
(47679/BN32598)
To his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about his arrival in Moscow and negotiations concerning his payment, then already concluded: "[...] I arrived in Moscow. I was upset all day, even more so at the Glavnauka [Main Administration of Scientific, Artistic, and Museum institutions], the whole Glavnauka, all Main Administrations convinced me not to stay abroad, this is where my bread grows, they said ... It was decided to pay me the full 160 Rubles [...] The line of my life will proceed with you and will finally climb the height of art.
Now I am completely by myself and united with you in one single force, and you will endure with me everything until the very end [...]"..
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. Moscow. 23.02.1927. Large 8vo. 1½ pp. Written in red ink.
$ 60,738 / 58.000 €
(47680/BN32599)
A long letter to his third wife, Natalja mentioning the making of a suprematistic movie, organising a shipment of his paintings and his trip to Poland: "[...] I'm totally upset now, more nervous than ever before, you realize that in everything I do. I have ordered a box, for example, to put some paintings in, and thoroughly took the wrong measures; afterwards I've ordered a second one, and was also completely mistaken. Finally, I managed it with pain and misery, wrapped in the paintings and will ship it to the censorship office for Friday, and if I manage to do so I will buy a ticket, which costs 35 rubels to the border and another 35 rubels from there to Warsaw [...] My golden one, my beloved one, you're sleeping and can't hear the tender words I'm whispering to you, but I repeat them every single night when I go to bed [...] I have to hurry to the film studios.
We are about to produce a suprematist movie. We have to work under pressure, as we will be joined by various film animators [...]" (transl. from Russian)..
Russian painter and art theoretician (1879-1935). Autograph letter signed. [Moscow. 8vo. 2 pp. on bifolium, in pencil.
$ 50,266 / 48.000 €
(47681/BN32600)
In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya, about some of his paintings that were sold, his return to Moscow, where everyone is happy to see him, and a presentation he attended there: "[...] Yesterday I went to the Academy to hear a presentation by Shutko on Dziga Vertov. It was quite remarkable, and I also saw three stagings [apparently films] by Vertov. Eisenstein sulked like a little girl. There was another presentation held by a German from Dessau, but I left before that. The people from ASNOVA [i.
e. the Association of New Architects] want me to go to Moscow. Klyun will leave on Wednesday [...]" (transl.). - Kirill Ivanovich Shutko (1884-1941) was editor-in-chief of the magazine "Soviet Cinema". - Somewhat wrinkled..