 In January 17 , 1920 , Malevich and Lissitzky co @-@ founded the short @-@ lived Molposnovis ( Young followers of a new art ) , a proto @-@ suprematist association of students , professors , and other artists . After a brief and stormy dispute between " old " and " young " generations , and two rounds of renaming , the group reemerged as UNOVIS ( Exponents of the new art ) in February . Under the leadership of Malevich the group worked on a " suprematist ballet " , choreographed by Nina Kogan and on the remake of a 1913 futurist opera Victory Over the Sun by Mikhail Matyushin and Aleksei Kruchenykh . Lissitzky and the entire group chose to share credit and responsibility for the works produced within the group , signing most pieces with a black square . This was partly a homage to a similar piece by their leader , Malevich , and a symbolic embrace of the Communist ideal . This would become the de facto seal of UNOVIS that took the place of individual names or initials . Black squares worn by members as chest badges and cufflinks also resembled the ritual tefillin and thus were no strange symbol in Vitebsk shtetl . 
