malevich the woodcutter 1912 Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935)

Description of Kazimir Malevich’s painting The Woodcutter

A rather famous work by the talented artist Kazimir Malevich, "The Lumberjack," was created by him during the years 1912-1913. The artist preferred oil as his paints. He called this painting "Imitation of an Icon," implying by this its similarity to the Etudes of Fresco painting.

However, the golden color preference was quite straightforward, crude and not particularly convincing in icon painting, so Malevich himself called this genre of paintings "labor".

Malevich always had his own unique view of painting icons. He classified icons as the highest level of peasant art. At the same time his opinion has its share of truth, as the icons - this is virtually the only type of images, which encountered the average person, not a single house was not left without an icon. In his works from the peasant labor series, Malevich discovered a new direction of his own style.

The image of peasants at their daily routine occupy the entire composition of the painting. Malevich simplifies all the details of the painting to a primitive childlike level. All details have a very enlarged form and deformation to give them a greater degree of expression. The range of colors is combined with the style of icon writing, and the flatness of the work is done in a corresponding form.

The very image of the rustic peasant, his everyday life, the works are exalted and occupy the center of the composition. His peasants as if made of new metallic material, assembled from individual parts and details.

However, Malevich is very specific in his work depicts the gender of the character: female or male. Rough features of the face, strong and strong torso is most often depicted in profile. At the same time, the peasant images reflect the dusky features of church icons. Also all Malevich’s characters had one thing in common - large eyes.