Origini russe del monocromo

Abstract

Talking about monochrome painting is a complex issue, due to the impossibility of considering it as a pictorial genre with unique characteristics, and due to the difficulty of framing the variety of artists who can be ascribed, in different ways, to this movement. This essay is intended to be a historical-critical reflection on the initial phase of monochrome painting, in order to clarify how the pictorial roots of modern monochrome are to be found in the context of the experiences relating to abstraction in the early 1900s, in particular, in Malevič and Rodčenko. Although this genesis is well-known, highlighting the ambivalences of the beginnings can contribute to enrich our perception of the “tradition of the new” in many of its dualisms.