Russian, 1879-1935. Founder of the Suprematist movement in 1915 and a pioneer of geometric abstraction, Malevich steered clear of political or social subjects and produced art that exhibited pure aesthetics using formal techniques. He religiously used linear representations of a black square, a form he equalled to the number Zero, to usher in a new language of content-free designs and flagged the end of pictorial conventions. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Malevich and other senior artists were granted prominent administrative and teaching positions. Having influenced the development of abstract art in the Soviet Union and Western Europe, he ultimately returned to representational painting.