Cow and Fiddle

Cow and Fiddle is an expressive, creative composition by Kazimir Malevich. It bears some similarities to other paintings from his hand but does not follow the abstract style for which he is most famous.

In terms of the objects included by Malevich in this painting, we are immediately reminded of an artwork by Marc Chagall, Blue Violinist. There were also famous Cubists who used musical instruments within still life arrangements. See for example Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso, Violin and Candlestick by Georges Braque and Guitar and Glass by Juan Gris. This style of Malevich would disregard reality in terms of size, with the cow being smaller than the fiddle in this composition.

Malevich uses a palette of greens and browns to join his light and darker contrasting tones. Similar can be found in some of the examples provided above by other artists. Whilst the sizes are unrealistic, the detail on the title elements are reasonably accurate. The particular series of items that we have here could be described as somewhat surreal.