Graphic artist, ceramic decorator, designer and painter Nikolai Suetin was a Russian-born artist who studied under Malevich. Primarily a painter, Suetin was involved in the Russian avant-garde as well as the Suprematist movement. His use of Suprematist style was the most abundant in the 1920s and featured overlaying square blocks of color. 

While the term “Suprematist” may conjure up hateful connotations, in connection to Russian art, it was applied to the visual phenomena of the objective world. Simply put, it was a movement where artists would express their feelings as a pure form of creative art. The Suprematists looked for purity in their art, which was translated into clean and simple forms.

Suetin was often commissioned to create magazine covers for Russian magazines, and used a very graphic style. Suetin would also create advertisements for shops and other promotional materials as well. His color palate was usually very much a reflection of Russian symbolism and red, white and black were often used in his compositions. He also used a number of Eastern or Oriental themes in his work, such as giant red circles.

>

Typically considered an Abstract artist, his work is very geometrical, and can be compared to that of Kandinsky and the work of Bauhaus artists. Suetin worked in a number of mediums from oil and watercolor to gouache, as well as a number of materials such as paper and linen and of course, ceramics. Because of his highly graphic style, Suetin would also work in Cubism from time to time.

It was quite popular to own a piece of Russian avant-garde art in the 1920s, and work such as Suetin’s is often found at estate sales. Although he lived well into the 1950s, Suetin’s most prolific period was from the late 1910s through the early 1930s. Suetin’s work can be found worldwide, and may even be one of your own family heirlooms.