The New York Museum registered Malevich, Kuindzhi and Aivazovsky as Ukrainian artists

And yet they left something Russian in their collection.

The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has made adjustments to the captions for works from its collection, thereby recognizing Aivazovsky, Kuindzhi and Repin as Ukrainians. Things went further – Kazimir Malevich was also recorded as a Ukrainian author, despite the fact that he is an ethnic Pole, and as an artist he was formed in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vitebsk. This caused indignation among specialists in the work of Malevich.

As a result of the edits made by the Metropolitan Museum of Art on its website, there are almost no Russian artists left in its collection. And yet there are works marked “Russian” there – there are about 2.5 thousand of them. But these are more and more icons or works of decorative art, created by the workshop of Carl Faberge, the imperial porcelain factory or other industries. However, Lyubov Popova and Mikhail Karasik were left behind by Russia. That is, everything that could not be recorded in Ukrainian. Experts only shrug their shoulders, explaining the museum’s actions by “political conjuncture”. However, not all.

– Kazimir Malevich is a Russian artist, because he lived most of his life in Russia, it was here that his views and beliefs were formed. He painted his “Black Square” in the Kuntsevo area, lived with his family in Nemchinovka, not far from which he bequeathed to bury himself. This will be emphasized at the exhibition that we are preparing now, – says Alexander Matveev, an expert on Malevich, who found the once-lost grave of the artist.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has several works by Kazimir Malevich. This is an early edition of the book “The World as Non-Objectivity” (published in Munich in 1927) and the book by Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexei Kruchenykh with drawings by Kazimir Malevich and Olga Rozanova “Game in Hell” (Petrograd, 1913). Now they are listed with a mark – “Ukrainian”.

By the way, this is not the first time that Ukrainians are trying to record Malevich. Ukrainian art critic Dmitry Gorbachev tried to do this back in the 1990s. He gave lectures, where he focused on the connection of the artist’s work with the traditions of Ukrainian folklore, cooperation with folk craftsmen, as well as friendship with many Ukrainian artists. Kazimir Malevich himself was first of all a Suprematist, an affirmer of the new art.