Suprematism and Dada Art Movements

Suprematism and Dada

Art movements often arise as a result of developments in the social and artistic world. These responses generally focus upon improving or commenting upon an element or philosophy that acted as the inspiration of former art movements, philosophies, or social paradigms of the time. The same was true for Suprematism and Dada. Both these movements were a comment upon and reaction to the tendency to conform, which both movements rejected. According to Malevich's statements, it appears that Suprematism was concerned to depict non-conformism in terms of art in the formlessness and color-free world of white, whereas Dada refused to define itself or its art as any central thing. As such, both movements were a rejection of not only conformity, but of form and function themselves.

For Malevich, the central existence of Suprematism, it appears, is in the color white. This is symbolic of his ideal, that art should not be bound by any human considerations, such as beauty, experience, mood, or emotion. Art should be itself, and this could best be accomplished without recognizable form or color. It should be connected to nothing and be independent, existing only for and because of itself.

Malevich sums up these ideals in the words: "I have ripped through the blue lampshade of the constraints of colour. I have come out into the white. Follow me, comrade aviators. Swim into the abyss. I have set up semaphores of Suprematism."

It is interesting that Malevich singles out the color blue in this expression, as also implied in his later reference to the "lining of the coloured sky" that he has overcome. By rejecting the color and true to life form so revered by his artistic predecessors, Malevich creates a philosophy of art that appeals to nothing that has been the feeding ground of art so far. It appeals to no sense or emotion. It is concerned only with its own, independent self, and by association the artists that create it consider themselves as independent of all tradition, whether social or artistic. It is a type of rebellion, or even a revolution. In the same way, Dada regarded itself as a type of rebellious freedom.

Even more than Suprematism, Dada considered itself as independent of conformity. Indeed, Tzara is even averse to writing a manifesto for the movement, since it would require the formation of a central philosophy, which the manifesto insists is absent. Very briefly, the central concept of the manifesto and all the claims Tzara makes is inherent in the three simple words of the heading: "Dada Means Nothing."

Tzara takes a long time to explain what this entails. For Tzara, Dada means independence not only of artistic form, but also of artistic criticism and even of other artists. For the Dadaist art means a uniquely personal experience that is neither meaningful nor meaningless. It exists in and of itself, independent of human conditions or philosophies.