Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich was a Kyiv-born avant-garde painter who founded Suprematism, reducing painting to geometric forms, color, and oil-paint texture.
Painter
Ivan Kliun
Ivan Kliun was a Russian avant-garde painter who explored Suprematist geometry, isolated colored shapes, and later experiments with light and space.
Ivan Kliun quick facts
Kliun worked alongside Kazimir Malevich before developing an interest in how color, form, light, and texture interact in nonrepresentational art.
| Full name | Ivan Vasilievich Kliunkov |
|---|---|
| Born | 1873 · Bolshie Gorki, Russian Empire |
| Died | 1943 · Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Movements | Suprematism (1915–1919) |
| Paint types | Oil paint · Watercolor |
| Other media | — |
| Other materials | — |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas · Paper · Wood |
| Painting methods | Isolated angular shapes on pale backgrounds, contrasting colors, surface texture, apparent illumination, and painted sculptural reliefs |
| Common subjects | Non-objective geometric forms, floating angular shapes, and abstract contrasts of light and color |
| Notable works | Composition (1917) |
Sources: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza: Ivan Kliun biography, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza: Composition (1917), oil on canvas, MoMA: Composition, watercolor on paper, and MoMA: Suprematism, oil on wood.
Paint types used by Ivan Kliun
In Composition (1917), Kliun used oil on canvas to arrange geometric forms whose color and light contrasts suggest movement across the picture plane.
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Oil paint
The Thyssen-Bornemisza catalogs Kliun’s Composition (1917) as oil on canvas. Independent geometric forms and contrasts of color and light create the impression of movement and depth; the museum connects his development to compositions organized around luminosity. This work documents oil as the medium for his constructed geometric paintings.
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Watercolor
MoMA records Kliun’s Composition (1920) as watercolor on paper. This work on paper uses the same vocabulary of geometric forms as his oil painting, but in a smaller sheet-based format. It documents watercolor as a distinct medium in his practice rather than implying that his oil paintings were made on paper.
Sources: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza: Composition (1917), oil on canvas.; Thyssen-Bornemisza: Ivan Kliun; MoMA: Composition (1920), watercolor
Painting surfaces used by Ivan Kliun
Collection records document canvas in Ivan Kliun’s work, with examples below tying it to named works instead of inferring it from style or period.
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Canvas
The Thyssen-Bornemisza records Kliun’s Composition (1917) as oil on canvas. The painting uses geometric shapes and contrasts of light and color to suggest forms suspended in space; its support is documented by the museum rather than assumed from the oil medium.
Sources: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza: Ivan Kliun biography, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza: Composition (1917), oil on canvas, MoMA: Composition, watercolor on paper, MoMA: Suprematism, oil on wood.
Painters similar to Ivan Kliun
Malevich and Rozanova shared Kliun’s Suprematist circle and interest in independent color and geometry, while pursuing distinct abstract forms.
Olga Rozanova
Olga Rozanova was a Russian avant-garde painter whose Suprematist compositions and pure-color experiments pushed abstraction beyond recognizable forms.