Supremus ( Russian: Супремус; 1915–1916) was a group of Russian avant-garde artists led by the "father" of Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich. It has been described as the first attempt to found the Russian avant-garde movement as an artistic entity within its own historical development. [1]
Supremus conceptualized the artist as one who has freed himself from everything that pre-decided the ideal structure of life and art. [2] Malevich projected the Supremus vision onto Cubism, which he believed deconstructs things and completely changes the reference points of art. [1] To support the movement, Malevich established the journal Supremus (initially titled Nul or Nothing), which received contributions from artists and philosophers. [3] The publication, however, never took off and its first issue was never distributed due to the Russian Revolution. [3]
Members of the group included Aleksandra Ekster, [4] Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Ivan Kliun, Ivan Puni, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Nina Genke-Meller, Ksenia Boguslavskaya and others. [5]