Valentin Kurdov (Russian, 1905-1989) mixed media on paper abstract composition in the suprematist style. Provenance: from the artist's collection. Marked on verso with the artist's stamp and dated 1939 in pencil. Valentin Ivanovich Kurdov was faced with the systems of symbolic perception and tryokhtsvetka (color range of blue green and red) of Petrov-Vodkin, the lessons of Malevich, and the influential work of Filonov and Kustodiev. He was very drawn to the Russian avant-garde and its vast possibilities for discovery. In the late 1920s, Kurdov and his friend Yury Vasnetsov pleaded with Kasemir Malevich to let them join the Institute of Artistic Culture and he relented. In the year 2000, the State Russian Art Museum held a retrospective entitled In Malevich's Circle: Confederates, Students, Followers in Russia 1920s-50s. The exhibit included works by the artists taught by Malevich, Kurdov's works were among those included.