From 2 October 2015 to 17 January 2016, GAMeC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo is hosting an important retrospective devoted to Kazimir Malevich (Kiev, 1878 – Leningrad [St Petersburg], 1935), a key 20th-century figure who experienced one of the most intense historical and artistic periods of the era.

Curated by Eugenia Petrova, Vice-director of the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg, and Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Director of GAMeC, the exhibition is co-produced by GAMeC and GAmm – Giunti Arte mostre musei, in collaboration with the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg. Unique in its completeness and because of the careful historical and critical investigation it has entailed, it will present approximately 70 works by Kazimir Malevich, alongside a large body of works by leading Russian artists who were part of the art movements of the early 20th century, as well as documents and videos.

Malevich is internationally considered part of the pioneering triad that opened new paths in the art of the 20th century. Whereas Picasso made the biggest contribution to renewal of the figurative tradition and Duchamp of the conceptual tradition, it was Malevich who brought to life the primacy of the tradition of abstract art that is still so decisive today.

He was a key figure for the last century and continues to be today, thanks to his complex production that goes beyond abstract art alone and the birth of Suprematism, a crucial current for the development of 20th century.

In fact, Malevich was a multifaceted artist. After beginning his career as a Symbolist and Neo-Impressionist, after reconsidering the conquests of the art that made inroads in Paris in the late 19th century he embraced the development of Cubo-Futurism, a movement that summed up the conquests of both the French Cubism of Braque and Picasso as well as the Italian Futurism of Balla and Boccioni. This marked an initial path shared by other contemporary Russian artists such as Kandinsky, with whom he participated in the first collective avant-garde exhibitions.

For the exhibition, GAMeC’s Educational Department is promoting the project Tutti Pazzi Per Malevich, with the aim of building a network of collaboration linking institutions, associations, offices of the City of Bergamo and the province, uniting them in a network of excellence.

Supported by the Culture Office of the Municipality of Bergamo, the project is a high-quality cultural investment in the city in which GAMeC takes the lead in a new way to make the most of the resources generated by the exhibitions.

All the events will be documented on the website www.mostramalevic.it

Catalogue by GAmm Giunti.