Kazimir Malevich

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist, whose pioneering work and writing influenced the development of abstract art in the 20th century. He was born in Kiev, modern-day Ukraine, to an ethnic Polish family. His concept of Suprematism sought to develop a form of expression that moved as far as possible from the world of natural forms (objectivity) and subject matter in order to access "the supremacy of pure feeling" and spirituality. Active primarily in Russia, Malevich was a founder of the artists collective UNOVIS and his work has been variously associated with the Russian avant-garde and the Ukrainian avant-garde, and he was a central figure in the history of modern art in Central and Eastern Europe more broadly.

23 February 1878

Born on the same birth day (23 February): Agnes Smedley • Casimir Funk • Charlie Brandt • D'Angelo Russell • Eddie Dibbs • Hans Herrmann • Jamal Murray • Jerod Mayo • Martine Croxall • Melinda Messenger • Rajani Thiranagama • Robert Lopez

Born in the same month (February 1878): Alfréd Hajós • Alvan T. Fuller • André Citroën • Big Jim Colosimo • Gordon Coates • Harriet Bosse • Jack Kirwan • Joe Lydon (boxer) • Julius Nieuwland • Martin Buber • Milan Hodža • Mirra Alfassa • Ossip Gabrilowitsch • Pamela Colman Smith • Pierre Fatou