Applications of Holography and Optical Data Processing ed. by E. Marom, A. A. Friesem, and E. Wiener-Avnear (review)

Books 169 The first two essays deal with one of the most intriguing problems in Malevich studies, that is, the philosophical reasons behind Ma1evich'smove into Suprematism. Sherwin W. Simmons, in an article entitled The Step Beyond: Malevich and the Ka, explores the possible relationship between Khlebnikov's exploration and those by others of the metaphysical ideas associated with the Egyptian notion of Ka and Malevich's move into nonfigurative or abstract art. Although evidence for such a link remains slight, Simmons does open up the fascinating intellectual climate of some of the Russian literary figures who surrounded Malevich. A more convincing and a more closely argued case is presented by Linda Dalrymple Henderson in The Merging of Time and Space: The 'Fourth Dimension' in Russia from Ouspensky to Malevich. Here, indeed, Ouspensky's hyperspace philosophy of the fourth dimension is shown to have been one of the contributing factors in Malevich's thinking concerning abstraction . The only essay that is devoted to a specific painting by Malevich is Malevich's Nymphs: Erotica or Emblem by Margaret Bridget Betz. Somehow I find it difficult to accept that this delightful early Malevich Art Nouveau gouache needs to be explained in terms of complex Russian folklore. It seems more likely that it was painted in response to the direct impact of the Jugendstil, which briefly swept through the Russian art scene and found reflection in the work of a number of painters. Jean-Claude Marcade in An Approach to the Writings of Malevich, and I1yaLevin in The Fifth Meaning ofthe Motor Car: Ma1evich and Oberiuty both suggest something of a literary context within which to view the emergence of Malevich's ideas on art. Certainly links with the OBERIU literary circle and writers like Kharms, Vvedenskii and Zabolotski existed. Milka Bliznakov in Suprematism in Architecture argues a case for the logical progression from Malevich's paintings to his exploration in architectural forms. However for me the most rewarding studies are by Bowlt and by Charlotte Douglas. Bowlt in Malevich and His Students breaks new ground in assembling the meagre available data on Malevich's impact as a teacher, particularly during his crucial Vitebsk years, while Douglas in Malevich's Painting-Some Problems of Chronology embarks with considerable courage towards the almost uncharted waters of Malevich's 'postsuprematist ' paintings. The essay is somewhat embryonic in that it does not go beyond raising a number of major problems and making some perceptive observations. However the approach, in the long run, may lead to questioning some basic assumptions presently held about Malevich's attitudes to the act of painting itself. The essays are accompanied by a bibliography of publications on Malevich since 1970. It seems that the situation has changed rather dramatically over the past 20 years, from Malevich a painter championed by a small group of scholars to Malevich being the centre of major art historical research with at least a dozen unpublished doctoral theses recently devoted to him. Yet, he remains as enigmatic a character as ever and much more work needs to be done on the tradition of Russian 19th-century painting and, particularly, on the Russian icon, before a suitable context is created for his work. Rodchenko and the Arts of Revolutionary Russia. David Elliott, ed. Pantheon, New York, 1979. 136 pp., ilIus. Paper, $10.00. Reviewed by John E. Bowlt* Two monographs on the work of Alexandr Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891-1956) were published in 1979: Elliott's book and German Karginov's Rodchenko (London: Thames & Hudson). The availability of these two new studies is particularly appropriate now, since the Russian avant-garde is the focus of increasing attention on the part of scholars, collectors, and museum people both in the Soviet Union and in the West. Recent publications have indicated beyond doubt that, while El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin were central *Dept. of Slavic Languages, Univ. of Texas, P.O. Box 7217, Austin TX 78712, U.S.A. innovative artists, there were many other painters, constructors and designers who also made an essential contribution to the development of Cubo-Futurism, Suprematism, Constructivism, etc. Among them are Ivan Kliun, Liubov Popova, Gustav Klucis and Rodchenko. After years of neglect...