ARKADY SHAIKHET (1898-1959)
Construction of the Globe at the Moscow Telegraph, 1928
Gelatin silver print
Photographer’s stamp on verso
24 x 17.8 cm
Shaikhet portrays two workers constructing the revolving glass globe that decorated the facade of Moscow’s Central Telegraph Building. As a defining member of the early Soviet avant-garde, Shaikhet employed a Constructivist visual language - as evident in the tight framing and sharp contrast of light and dark to celebrate industrial and architectural form.
Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962)
Strengthen Peace through Labor, 1987
From Nomenklatura of Signs series
Vintage gelatin silver photomontage
Signed and dated on verso
35.5 x 35.5 cm
BORIS IGNATOVICH (1899-1976)
Youth, 1937
Vintage gelatin silver print mounted on board
Title and date in pencil in Russian on verso
Photographer’s stamp on verso
41.9 x 55.7 cm
Ignatovich was a major force in Constructivist photography in the 1920s, alongside Aleksandr Rodchenko. Ignatovich however, demonstrated a more humanist aesthetic approach to photography, as reflected in “Youth.” He gracefully positioned his two subjects in a triangle composition and gave the image a warm vitality by masterfully balancing depth and tone.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Worker, 1986
From Nomenklatura of Signs series
Vintage gelatin silver photomontage
Artist’s name, title, and signature on verso
20.5 x 23.5 cm
“Nomenklatura of Signs” is not only a biting critique of the Soviet establishment known as the “nomenklatura,” whose imposition of visual propaganda upon the Soviet psyche deprived citizens of their individuality and authenticity. Titarenko links the dehumanizing propaganda in his photomontages with Chapter Two of Solzhenitsyn’s “Gulag Archipelago” -“The History of Our Sewage Disposal System” - by depicting the Soviet subjects tragic destiny in an assemblage of prosaic signs and symbols.
Petr Galadzhev (1900-1971)
Operator Frantsisson (collage for Towards Victory in the Skies), 1924
Photocollage on cardstock with hand-drawn lettering
6 1/2 x 5 3/8 in. (16.5 x 13.7 cm)
This photocollage celebrates Boris Frantsisson (1899-1960), the Soviet avant-garde cinematographer who shot Sergei Eisenstein’s first film, Glumov’s Diary (1923), and collaborated with director Dziga Vertov on films including Girl with a Hatbox (1927) and The Happy Canary (1929). The collage was published in September 1924 in the weekly newspaper The Cinema Gazette (later named Kino) to promote the film Towards Victory in the Skies, for which Frantsisson became the first camera operator in Soviet cinema to perform the dangerous feat of photographing an airborne plane from another plane. Galadzhev has inscribed the name “Frantsi-" and "sson” on the collage, perhaps intended as a pun on the Russian word son, meaning “to dream,” and the resemblance of the filmmaker’s name to the name of the country France. Galadzhev’s composition reflects the ideals of flight and technology that captivated members of Moscow’s art scene in the 1920s, and each word in the collage is punctuated by a full stop — a unique Galadzhev signature.
Information courtesy of Philip Cavendish. See Cavendish, Philip, The Men with the Movie Camera: The Poetics of Visual Style in Soviet Avant-Garde Cinema of the 1920s. New York: Berghahn Books, 2016, p. 21
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Red Flag, 1987
11 Khalturina Street, Mikhailovsky Garden, (Nearby Toilets)
From Nomenklatura of Signs series
Photocollage with gelatin silver print and fabric
Artist’s name and signature on verso
20 x 23.5 cm
SERGEY SHIMANSKY (1898-1972)
Diver, Black Sea, 1930s
Vintage gelatin silver print
37 x 28 cm
Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962)
Discus Thrower, 1988
From "Nomenklatura of Signs" series
Toned gelatin silver photomontage
Signed and dated on verso
31 x 31 cm
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Leningrad-Wood-Paper-Construction-Supply-Distribution Forms, 1988
From Nomenklatura of Signs series
Photocollage with red linen and gelatin silver print
Artist’s signature and date on verso
49.6 x 39.4 cm
Titarenko drew on the aesthetics of Malevich, Rodchenko, and other artists of the early 20th-century Russian avant-garde. He conceived the series as a way to translate the visual reality of Soviet life into a language that expressed its absurdity, and to expose the Communist regime as an oppressive system that converted citizens into mere signs.
Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962)
Female Worker, 1987
From "Nomenklatura of Signs" series
Toned gelatin silver photomontage
34 x 36 cm
Signed and dated on verso
Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962)
Arrest, 1986-1988
From "Nomenklatura of Signs" series
Gelatin silver photomontage
Signed on verso
34 x 28 cm
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Courtyard Well, Leningrad, 1987
From Nomenklatura of Signs series
Vintage gelatin silver photomontage
Artist’s name, title, and signature on verso
34 x 35 cm
Our online exhibition showcases experiments with framing and composition among the avant-garde Soviet artists of the 1920s and 1930s, including Boris Ignatovich (1899-1976), Arkady Shaikhet (1898-1959), Sergey Shimansky (1898-1972), and Petr Galadzhev (1900-1971). Photographers found that the construction of a robust, carefully framed composition was key to the development of a fresh style and the creation of a powerful metaphor. Constructivist compositions, close-ups, and photomontage were widely implemented. Shaikhet, in particular, employed a Constructivist visual language - as evident in the tight framing and sharp contrast of light and dark in “Construction of the Globe at Moscow Telegraph,” 1928, to celebrate new industrial and architectural forms. In his photocollage “Operator Frantsisson,” 1924, Galadzhev celebrates Boris Frantsisson (1899-1960), the Soviet avant-garde cinematographer who shot Sergei Eisenstein’s first film, Glumov’s Diary (1923), and collaborated with film director Dziga Vertov. Galadzhev inscribed the name “Frantsi-" and "sson” on the collage, perhaps intended as a pun on the Russian word “son,” meaning “to dream,” and on the resemblance of the filmmaker’s name to the name of the country France. Ignatovich, a major force in Soviet avant-garde photography, alongside Aleksandr Rodchenko, demonstrates a humanist aesthetic approach in “Youth,” 1937.
In the same way that artists of the Soviet avant-garde employed new tools and techniques to express their changing reality, photographers of the 1970s and 1980s explored novel ways to use their medium to deconstruct the Soviet reality in their own time. As an example, we feature collages and photomontages from the period by Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962). Drawing on the aesthetics of the artists of the early 20th-century avant-garde, Titarenko conceived the series “Nomenklatura of Signs” as a way to translate the visual reality of Soviet life into a language that expressed its absurdity, and to expose the Communist regime as an oppressive system that converted citizens into mere signs. The result is a biting critique of the Soviet establishment known as the “nomenklatura,” whose imposition of visual propaganda upon the Soviet psyche deprived citizens of their individuality and authenticity. Titarenko links the dehumanizing propaganda in his photomontages with Chapter Two of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, “The History of Our Sewage Disposal System,” by depicting Soviet subjects' tragic destiny in an assemblage of prosaic signs and symbols.
A selection from our exhibition will be featured in our Booth B04 at the 26th edition of Paris Photo, which will take place in the Grand Palais Éphémère from Thursday, November 9 through Sunday, November 12, with the opening preview on Wednesday, November 8.
