MOSCOW (AP) – To the naked eye, Kazimir Malevich’s famed “Black Square” painting looks just like that — a featureless black square. But X-ray examination by Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery found much more.
Tretyakov director Zelfira Tregulova told journalists on Wednesday that two earlier paintings have been found under the black expanse.
There’s also an inscription by the artist using the title of a 19th century black square painting by the French humorist Alphonse Allais that purportedly portrays two black men fighting in a cave at night.
Malevich was a towering figure of the early 20th century avant-garde, famed for his so-called Suprematist paintings that rejected figurative art in favor of bold geometric shapes.