Reservist of the First Division

Reservist of the First Division is a pivotal work created by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in 1914. The piece is a highly complex oil on canvas painting incorporating significant collage elements, featuring disparate materials such as printed paper, a postage stamp, and even a functional glass thermometer embedded directly into the composition. This combination of traditional oil paint and objet trouvé marks Malevich's profound exploration of Cubo-Futurist principles, integrating fragmented perspectives and real-world detritus typical of the European avant-garde at the time.

Created during the critical period of fall-winter 1914, the work reflects the intense social and political climate of pre-Revolutionary Russia and the initial impact of World War I, although its specific subject matter is highly obscured by abstraction. Malevich uses vibrant, disjointed fields of color and stenciled lettering, juxtaposed against the found objects to challenge traditional notions of representation. The placement of the thermometer, a scientific instrument used for objective measurement, adds a jarring literal reality to the otherwise abstract and highly subjective composition.

Although often viewed as a transitional piece leading directly toward the purity of Suprematism, Reservist of the First Division stands as a powerful example of Russian Futurism’s engagement with material culture and the industrial age. The canvas exemplifies Malevich’s brief but rigorous experimentation with the collage technique before his complete departure into non-objective forms. Documented and studied extensively, high-quality images and related art prints of this seminal work are widely available for reference in catalogs and scholarly texts. This vital piece of the early 20th-century avant-garde currently resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.