Andrew Spira is an independent art historian, and is the author of several books including The Avant-Garde Icon: Russian Avant-Garde Art and the Icon Painting Tradition (2008).
Spira has written an extraordinary and fascinating book about one of the simplest paintings ever made. Brilliant, witty, personal, and inspired, it is full of surprises. --John Milner, author of Kazimir Malevich and the Art of Geometry This is a thought-provoking book that provides the philosophical background to the emergence of the most mysterious painting of the twentieth century--Black Square by Kazimir Malevich--and enhances our understanding of it by making some completely new observations. Placing Malevich's Black Square in the most interesting and intriguing context, Spira develops a fascinating narrative that explores the possible precursors, origins, context, and meaning of this iconic painting. --Natalia Murray, associate lecturer and senior curator, Courtauld Institute of Art