Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 2: Modern Era (1850–1949)
1915
Black Square by Kazimir Malevich

This work of the Russian avant-garde, painted in 1915 though dated 1913 by Malevich, remains one of art history’s cornerstones. Black Square was instrumental in establishing “a new world of shapes and forms” that would eventually lead to digital generative art. This radical rejection of representation in art is one of the first instances of pure abstraction in painting. The lasting symbol of Malevich’s career and Suprematism, Black Square was an earth-shattering work, radically challenging thousands of years of artistic tradition and marking a turning point in the history of art.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Movements
Suprematism
Filed under
- Ideas
- abstraction, form, painting, representation, Russian avant-garde, Suprematism
- People
- Kazimir Malevich
- Works
- Black Square
- Places
- Russia
- Other subjects
- Malevich
Echoes across time
- 1962 · The Great Experiment: Russian Art, 1863-1922 by Camilla Gray
- 1970 · Generación Automática de Formas Plásticas Exhibition at the Centro de Cálculo of the University of Madrid
- 1968 · Computer Graphic Exhibition at Brno House of Arts
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- Timeline Ch 2—Modern Era with Kate Vass — listen with transcript on Le Random (20 Jul 2023, 58 min). Chapter 2’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify