Composition No. 3

Mediums: wood, brass, varnish, paint.
Location: The Museum of Modern Art, New York (the USA).

Usually, Yermylov combined the concrete and the abstract in their smooth synthesis in his reliefs, which he started creating in the early 1920s. The artist usually avoided vivid borders and contradictions of different techniques and styles. In this Suprematist and Constructivist painting, he achieved the highest compositional rhythmic effect by impeccable proportional order. Thanks to the skillful method of polishing, grinding, using varnish, and sometimes dusting powder, Yermylov’s reliefs do not look like a contrast between angular and rounded planes but represent a harmonious unity of various shapes. A wide wooden frame is also part of the composition, emphasizing the purity of the white area.