Before the Encounter with Cubism: Rural Visions
Mondrian, in 1908, depicted a windmill blocking out the sun, as if its blinding brilliance could be depicted only in this way. Malevich, in 1911-12, presented primitivistic, strangely other-worldly depictions of impoverished Russia. Both artists evoked a spiritual dimension – but on the basis of its contact with ordinary, fundamental things.