There are works of art that divide history into “before” and “after.” Among them, without a doubt, is the famous, scandalous “Black Square” by Kazimir Malevich. Already 100 years have passed since the creation of the canvas, and controversy and heated discussions around it have not stopped to this day. It is curious that the author himself was tormented by questions. Here are his words: “I could neither sleep nor eat, and tried to understand what I had done - but I could not.” And here is the answer Tretyakov Gallery.

The Tretyakov Gallery has published data on the most latest research. It turned out that under the “Black Square” is hidden color image. And not one, but two. This discovery was made a little over a month ago.

“It was known that under the image of the “Black Square” there was some underlying image. We found out that there are not one, but two such images. And they proved that the original image is a cubo-futurist composition, and that lying under the “Black Square”, the color of which you see in the craquelure, is a proto-Suprematist composition,” said Ekaterina Voronina, a researcher at the department of scientific examination of the Tretyakov Gallery.

In X-rays on the “Black Square” the outlines of another painting by Kazimir Malevich are clearly visible. Under a microscope you can clearly see how another layer of paint shines through the craquelure, that is, the cracks of the “Black Square”. The authors of the study - employees of the Tretyakov Gallery Ekaterina Voronina, Irina Rustamova and Irina Vakar - also spoke about their other discovery. They deciphered the inscription on the “Black Square”, which they consider to be the author’s. More precisely, they almost deciphered it: three letters are missing. In a word starting with "n" and ending with "ov". The whole phrase, according to museum workers, sounds like “The battle of blacks in a dark cave.” Thus, Malevich’s painting can be considered something like a correspondence dialogue between the artist and the author of the painting, painted in 1882 French writer and the eccentric Alphonse Allais. His painting is called “Battle of Negroes in a Dark Cave” late at night».

“Malevich has a complex, intricate handwriting and some letters are written the same way: “n”, “p”, and even “i” in some texts are very close in spelling. We are working on the second word. But you can all see that the first word is “Battle” by making sure of this in the exhibition,” commented Ekaterina Voronina.

It was clear that few of those present expected to hear something like that. Guests from different countries came to the international conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Black Square.

“Our family is very happy that the memory of a very important artist alive for the world, and not only here in Moscow,” admitted Kazimir Malevich’s grandniece Ivona Malevich.

Art historians have yet to comprehend the discovery. But artists have already done this. An exhibition dedicated to the “Black Square” opened within the walls of the Academy of Arts. The authors are the most famous contemporary artists.

“It seemed to us that it would be appropriate in the year of the 100th anniversary of the Black Square to draw a line under its pressure, pressure, charm and the magnetism that it possesses, and finally free ourselves to move on. In short, we wanted to get rid of his influence,” explained exhibition curator Ivan Kolesnikov.

Interesting article. I will quote it in full with my comments. There is a link and photos there. But for convincing sake, here is a link to Wikipedia...

Battle of the Negroes deep cave dark night

In front of you is a picture that has the title "Battle of blacks in a deep cave on a dark night"(1893). It was created twenty years before the birth of Malevich’s “masterpiece” (1915). The author is a Frenchman from the coast la Manche, a very eccentric person, a fellow humorist writer and artist Alphonse Allais (Alphonse Allais).

Also, Alphonse Allais, almost seventy years later, unexpectedly anticipated the famous minimalist musical piece“4’33”” by John Cage, which is four and a half “minutes of silence” - Allais called the work even more conceptually “Funeral March for the Funeral of the Deaf” ( Funeral March for the Observations of a Deaf Man).

As we see, this Alphonse Allais was a humorist by life, and not by position. And he made his “masterpieces” for fun. The names alone are worth it. And later plagiarists copied them in all seriousness.

He died in one of the rooms of the Britannia Hotel (Fr. Britannia), which is on the rue, not far from the Osten-Fox cafe (fr. Austin-Fox), where Alphonse Allais spent a lot of his free time. The day before, the doctor had strictly prescribed him to stay in bed for six months, only then would recovery be possible. Otherwise - death. “Funny people, these doctors! They seriously think that death is worse than six months in bed!

As soon as the doctor disappeared through the door, Alphonse Allais quickly got ready and spent the evening in a restaurant, and to the friend who accompanied him back to the hotel, he told his last anecdote: “Keep in mind, tomorrow I will already be a corpse! You will find it witty, but I will no longer laugh with you. Now you will be left laughing - without me. So tomorrow I'll be dead!

In full accordance with its last funny joke, he died the next day, October 28, 1905. As the widow of a man who died after a consultation said three best doctors of Paris: “But what could he do alone, sick, against three healthy ones?”

By the way, he and other colored squares created earlier Malevich. But for some reason the latter sells better at relevant auctions. Is he more “promoted” or something... Or maybe they just don’t know? This question breaks down into two:

1. Why was Malevich promoted and not Alphonse Allais?

2. And why were these “masterpieces” promoted at all?

Why wasn’t Alphonse Allais promoted? Apparently because he had one, but big drawback: he was not Jewish. And who will create world fame Goyu? Forbidden, sir! (Religion). And about the reason why it was necessary to promote at least someone about this, I wrote in the article: « About the evil Jews and their role in the global economic crisis » :

"Was held whole line experiments to determine the limits of media influence on mass consciousness. There were no limits. For the purity of the experiment, seemingly completely absurd and impossible tasks were undertaken. For example, to convince the world that he’s a ridiculous asshole, and with a telling surname Malevich, and also from barbaric Russia, who painted canvases with a wide brush with monochromatic paint, is a genius of all times and peoples. And his “works” are imperishable values ​​of the highest category. (This genius also painted monochrome circles and triangles. But they did not receive the status of masterpieces, perhaps because it was difficult to buy a suitable frame for them). The experiment was a success. Black and red squares are still huge

The French journalist, writer and eccentric humorist Alphonse Allais liked the idea so much that he developed it further in 1893, calling his black rectangle “Combat de nègres dans une cave, pendant la nuit” (“Battle of the Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night”). Not stopping with the success achieved, Allais then put out a pristine white sheet of Bristol paper entitled “The First Communion of Girls Suffering from Chlorosis in the Snowy Season.” Six months later, Alphonse Allais's next painting was perceived as a kind of “coloristic explosion.” The rectangular landscape “Harvesting tomatoes on the shores of the Red Sea by apoplectic cardinals” was a bright red monochrome painting without the slightest sign of an image (1894). Finally, in 1897, Allais published a book of 7 paintings, Album primo-avrilesque (April Fool's Album).

Thus, twenty years before the Suprematist revelations of Kazimir Malevich, the venerable artist Alphonse Allais became “ unknown author» first abstract paintings. Alphonse Allais also became famous for the fact that almost seventy years later he unexpectedly anticipated the famous minimalist musical piece “4′33″” by John Cage, which is four and a half “minutes of silence”. Perhaps the only difference between Alphonse Allais and his followers was that, while displaying his stunning innovative works, did not at all try to look like a meaningful philosopher or a serious discoverer.

Kazimir Malevich wrote his “Black Square” in 1915. This canvas measures 79.5 by 79.5 centimeters, which depicts a black square on a white background, painted with a thin brush. According to the artist, he wrote it for several months. The black square also has 2 “brothers”: a red square and a white square.

Malevich’s “Square” was written for an exhibition held in a huge hall. According to one version, the artist was unable to complete the painting on time, so he had to cover the work with black paint. Subsequently, after public recognition, Malevich painted new “Black Squares” on blank canvases. Attempts to examine the canvas to find the original version under the top layer were made repeatedly. However, scientists and critics believed that irreparable damage could be caused to the masterpiece.

“The Battle of Negroes in a Dark Cave in the Dead of Night” is a painting by Alphonse Allais, which is absolutely similar to Malevich’s “Black Square” and was painted 30 years before him. However, according to Russian experts, the picture is comic and cannot be compared with Malevich’s masterpiece, since he is a manifesto of Suprematism. Where this picture definitely cannot compare with “Black Square” is in price.

Alphonse Allais

An eccentric writer and journalist, Alphonse Allais was born in Honfleur in 1854. He is considered the founder of conceptualism and minimalism in almost all major areas of art: music, painting and even literature. He became most famous for his absurdist antics and dark humor.

Painting "Battles of blacks in a dark cave in the dead of night"

His play Magnum's Revenge predated the introduction of minimalism in theater by 50 years. And in 1882-1884 he began to paint pictures that belong to the so-called monochrome painting. Such paintings were rectangles of white, green, red and had names like “The First Communion of Pale Girls in the Snowy Season.”

However, the first painting in the form of a black quadrangle belongs not to him, but to his close friend Billot. Billot became the author of the painting “Battle of the Negroes in the Dungeon,” which he painted in 1882. The painting marked the beginning of a series of comic monochrome paintings, which in subsequent years included paintings by Allais and Billot, and, according to some experts, the same “Black Square”.

John Cage's minimalist work "4"33", which is four and a half minutes of silence, is also not the first of its kind. Here the primacy belongs to Alla and his "Funeral March to the Death of the Great Deaf."

Alla was a comedian not by position, but by life and got a lot of pleasure from it. Alla's whole life was accompanied by a joke, and it ended with a joke. On the last evening before his death, the doctor ordered him to stay in bed for another six months, otherwise Alphonse would not have lived long, but he did not follow the doctor’s recommendations.

He invited his friends to a restaurant and spent his last evening there. Alphonse stated that better death than six months in bed. He told the friend who accompanied him that he would not live to see tomorrow and it would be a kind of joke that he would no longer laugh at. The next day he actually died.

Battle of blacks in a deep cave

Since this painting is the most famous of the predecessors of Malevich’s painting, it is the one that is most often compared with “The Square”. Some experts are inclined to consider “Black Square” plagiarism. Some are a continuation of a series of jokes, but the majority of domestic experts, including Malevich’s nephew, categorically insist that Alla’s painting has nothing to do with Malevich at all. But is this really so?

A recent discovery has shown that under the main layer of Malevich’s first “Black Square” there are also two additional ones, different from the square, colored, but also abstract. In addition, the inscription “Battle of Negroes in a Dark Cave” was found on the painting, which apparently classifies the masterpiece as a series of comic paintings. But the date of the inscription is not indicated, although it still looks more like it was made by the author, just perhaps a little later than the picture was painted. Most contemporaries immediately began to be indignant. In their opinion, this circumstance may unfairly reduce the price of the painting.

In addition, before Malevich, as it turns out, there were not only these two paintings with black figures in the form of a rectangle, but also Robert Fludd’s painting “The Great Darkness”, dating from the 17th century, and “Twilight Russia” by Gustave Doré. Dismissing their “masterpiece”, it is stated that Malevich’s square is unique precisely because of the effect it produced, and not for its originality or artistic features. There is another opinion that explains such a high popularity of the square by elementary promotion.

The painting occupies its niche in world art. And although it does not have as high a value as Malevich’s masterpiece, it has the right to a fair assessment. Alphonse Allais certainly cannot be accused of plagiarism.

Alphonse Allais (1854 - 1905) was a French journalist, writer and eccentric humorist, known for his sharp tongue and absurdist antics, which predated by a quarter of a century the famous shocking exhibitions of the Dadaists and Surrealists of the 1910s and 1920s.

Alphonse Allais is also known as the “secret” founder and forerunner of conceptualism and minimalism in literature, painting and even music. A quarter of a century before Kazimir Malevich, Alphonse Allais became the author of a work similar to the famous “Black Square”, and almost seventy years later he unexpectedly anticipated the famous minimalist play “4′33” by John Cage, which is four and a half “minutes of silence”.

The beginning of the way

Alphonse Allais was born in Honfleur (Calvados department). His father was a pharmacist. Having hastily completed his studies and received the title of bachelor by the age of seventeen, Alfons entered the pharmacy own father as an assistant or trainee. Alphonse's father great pride outlined for him a career as a great chemist or pharmacist. The future will show: Alphonse Allais brilliantly fulfilled these hopes. However, even the very beginning of his activity in the family pharmacy has already turned out to be very promising.

As a debut, Alphonse conducted several bold experiments on influencing patients with a high-quality placebo of his original recipe, synthesized original counterfeit drugs, and also made several unusually interesting diagnoses with his own hands.

He will be happy to talk about his first small pharmacy triumphs a little later, in his fairy tale: “The Heights of Darwinism.”

“...I also found something for a lady who suffered severely from stomach pain:
Lady: - I don’t know what’s wrong with me, first the food rises to the top, and then goes down...
Alphonse: - I beg your pardon, madam, did you accidentally swallow the elevator?

Having discovered his son's success in the field of pharmaceuticals, his father gladly sent him from Honfleur to Paris, where Alphonse Allais spent the rest of his life. He sent him to do an internship at the pharmacy of one of his close friends. Upon closer examination, a few years later this pharmacy turned out to be a privileged Masonic cabaret." Black cat", where Alphonse continued to compose his recipes and heal the sick with great success.

His friendship with Charles Cros (the famous inventor of the phonograph) should have brought him back to scientific research, but these plans again were not destined to come true. Fundamental scientific works Alphonse Allais's works represent contributions to science, although today they are much less famous than himself. Alphonse Allais managed to publish his most serious research on color photography, as well as extensive work on the synthesis of rubber (and rubber stretching). In addition, he received a patent for own recipe preparing lyophilized (sublimated) coffee.

Picturesque masterpieces

First in the series artistic discoveries Alphonse Alla's canvas became completely black and almost square:

Not stopping at the success achieved, Alle exhibited virgin Blank sheet bristol paper...

And away we go. Absolutely red “Harvesting tomatoes on the shores of the Red Sea by apoplectic cardinals”, blue “The stupor of young soldiers seeing the azure of the Mediterranean Sea for the first time”, green “Pimps in the prime of life, on their bellies in the grass, absinthe drinkers" and the simply gray "Group of Drunkards in the Fog."

Musical masterpiece

Alphonse Allais also decided to make his historical contribution to musical art. In 1897, he re-composed, “performed” and published in a special album from the Ollendorf publishing house “Funeral March for the Funeral of the Great Deaf Man,” which, however, did not contain a single note. Only deathly silence, as a sign of respect for death and understanding of the important principle that great sorrows are silent. They do not tolerate fuss or unnecessary sounds. It goes without saying that the score of this march was a blank page music paper, lent by friend composer Erik Satie for a one-time performance of Alphonse's masterpiece.

Literary masterpieces

Alphonse Allais's first book entitled " White Night Red Hussar" was published at the beginning of 1887 by the Ollendorf publishing house; it was a 36-page brochure with illustrations by the artist Caran d'Asha. From that moment on, Allais's collections began to be published annually, and sometimes twice, and this continued until 1900, after which Alphonse stopped working with Parisian publishers. Mostly him literary creativity consists of stories and fairy tales, which he wrote on average two or three times a week. In addition, he was constantly published in newspapers, where, in his own words, he “laughed for money.”

"Things" by Alphonse Allais

We need to be more tolerant of man, but let’s not forget about the primitive era in which he was created.

There are often moments in life when the absence of cannibals is felt extremely painfully.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

Money makes even poverty easier to bear, isn’t it?

What is a lazy person: this is a person who does not even pretend to work.

As the widow of a man who died after a consultation of the three best doctors in Paris said:
- But what could he do alone, sick, against three healthy ones?

While we are wondering how best to kill time, time is methodically killing us.
Alphonse Allais died in one of the rooms of the Britannia Hotel, on Rue Amsterdam, not far from the Osten-Fox cafe, where Alphonse Allais spent a lot of his free time. The day before, the doctor had strictly prescribed him to stay in bed for six months, only then would recovery be possible. Otherwise - death.

“These doctors are funny people! They seriously think that death is worse than six months in bed!

As soon as the doctor disappeared through the door, Alphonse Allais quickly got ready and spent the evening in a restaurant, and to the friend who accompanied him back to the hotel, he told his last anecdote:

“Keep in mind, tomorrow I will already be a corpse! You will find it witty, but I will no longer laugh with you. Now you will be left laughing - without me. So tomorrow I'll be dead! In full accordance with his last funny joke, he died the next day, October 28, 1905.

After the Second World War, the political Association of Absolute Apologists of Alphonse Allais (abbreviated as AAAAA) was organized in France and is still active. This close-knit group of fanatical people is a public body in which Alphonse’s humor is valued above all other delights of life.

AAAAAA, among other things, has its legal address, bank account and headquarters in the “Most Little Museum Alphonse Allais" on the Upper Street of Honfleur.

By the way, the Alphonse Allais Museum, according to its organizers, “the smallest in the world” is still located in a real authentic Parisian room, where Alphonse Allais not only never lived, ate, slept, but could not even live there happen.

Permanent tour guide Alla long years there is a certain man, Jean-Yves Loriot, who constantly carries with him an official document confirming that he is the illegal reincarnation of the great humorist Alphonse Allais. He willingly shows visitors Allais' inventions - for example, black earplugs for widows. The shelves are lined with items from Allais’s collection: “Voltaire’s skull as a child,” “a cup for a left-handed person,” “a real piece of a fake Cross of Christ.”