A page from a sketchbook by Russian Suprematist artist Ivan Kliun, featuring an abstract composition of geometric shapes and lines in pencil and watercolour.

This sketchbook page by Ivan Kliun presents a study in Suprematist abstraction. Kliun, a Russian artist born in 1873, was associated with the early Russian avant-garde, including movements such as Constructivism and Suprematism. He explored non-objective forms and experimented with colour and composition to convey spiritual and emotional states. Kliun's work often reflects the utopian ideals and radical experimentation that characterised early 20th-century Russian art. The work features a series of geometric shapes and lines arranged in a seemingly random order. Rectangles and partial circles are rendered in black, red, and brown, with thin pencil lines intersecting and overlaying the forms. The composition is sparse, allowing each element to stand out against the blank paper. The limited colour palette and the use of simple geometric forms are typical of Suprematism, which sought to reduce painting to its most fundamental elements.