SERGEY SHIMANSKY (1898-1972)
Moldova Harvest, c. 1937
Vintage gelatin silver print
Photographer's stamp and title on verso
Date 1930s on verso
Image: 15 5/8 x 23 inches
Paper: 15 7/8 x 23 inches
Moldova Harvest is a rare exhibition-size vintage gelatin silver print from the 1930s and is a masterpiece of socialist realist photography. A young girl with a jug occupies the entire frame in the impressive composition, emanating optimism and representing the idyllic life of a farmer.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Red Flag, 1987
From Nomenklatura of Signs series
Photocollage with gelatin silver print and fabric
Artist’s name, date, and signature on verso
8 x 9 1/4 inches
Working in secret amid the deprivation and censorship of Soviet rule, Alexey Titarenko conceived Nomenklatura of Signs as a way to translate the visual reality of Soviet life into a language that expressed its absurdity. Titarenko drew inspiration from the aesthetics of Kazimir Malevich, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and other artists of the early 20th-century Russian avant-garde.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Untitled (Crucified woman with children), 1988
Unique vintage gelatin silver photomontage
Signed and dated on verso
8 x 9 1/4 inches
“These are layered works, both conceptually and literally. Titarenko prints through multiple negatives, creating overlaid façades that press meaning into a single plane. He also uses brushed-on sepia toning to create grey-yellow highlights in the photographs…” (George Slade in his article in the Black and White Magazine, October issue, 2023).
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Worker, 1986
From Nomenklatura of Signs series
Vintage gelatin silver photomontage
Artist’s name, title, and signature on verso
8 x 9 1/4 inches
“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.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station (Variant Crowd 2), St. Petersburg, 1992
City of Shadows series
Unique toned gelatin silver print
Signed, titled, dated on verso
Image size: 17 1/4 x 17 inches
Photographing Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station was Titarenko’s instinctive response to an atmosphere of deterioration and despair unfolding in 1990s Saint Petersburg, the years immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union. Through the method of long exposure, Titarenko transformed the swarm of Russian people pushing their way through a metro station, into a ghost-like haze. Reflecting a decade later, Titarenko wrote that “all these people conditioned by propagandistic models of representation, a palpable ensemble of smiling faces, were becoming wandering shadows.”
Variant Crowd 2 is a variation of Titarenko’s magnum opus, Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station. In his crowd photographs, Titarenko unleashed the expressive potentials of long exposure, demonstrating his mastery of the artistic method. Through darkroom toning and bleaching, he highlights specific elements in the scene. Particularly stirring is the pair of shoes — a frozen calm amid a procession of shadows. Titarenko invented this technique to truthfully reveal feelings of anxiety in Saint Petersburg at the time. Evocative as both an artistic achievement and a historical document, artworks from the Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station series can be found in such collections at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; MAST, Bologna; and the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (B. 1962)
Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station (Variant 4 Crowd 2), St. Petersburg, 1992
Unique toned gelatin silver print, handmade in the darkroom by the artist
Signed, titled, dated, and editioned by the artist on verso
8 3/8 x 8 3/8 in. (21.3 x 21.3 cm)
Edition of 5
12 x 12 inches, edition of 10
ALEXEY TITARENKO (B. 1962)
Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station (Variant 3 Crowd 2), St. Petersburg, 1992
Unique toned gelatin silver print, handmade in the darkroom by the artist
Signed, titled, dated, and editioned by the artist on verso
8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in. (20.6 x 20.6 cm), edition of 5
12 x 12 inches, edition of 10
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Vasileostrovskaya Metro Station (Variant 2 Crowd 2), St. Petersburg, 1992
Unique toned gelatin silver print, handmade in the darkroom by the artist
Signed, titled, dated, and editioned by the artist on verso
8 3/8 x 8 3/8 in. (21.3 x 21.3 cm), edition of 5
12 x 12 inches, edition of 10
GEORGE TICE (b. 1938)
Petit's Mobil Station, Cherry Hill, NJ, 1974
Platinum palladium print
8 x 10 inches
George Tice’s most iconic photograph, Petit’s Mobil Station recalls the magnificent abandon of an Edward Hopper painting and has become emblematic of the quintessential American urban landscape. Tice photographed Petit’s Mobil Station en route to visit his girlfriend at the time. Exiting the New Jersey turnpike around dusk, Tice propped up his camera on the side of the road and set a 2-minute exposure. To preserve the scene’s serene emptiness — one where the flat-top sedan is the only sign of human activity— Tice covered the lens every time a new car pulled up to the pump. The platinum and palladium that Tice used to print the photograph evoke the richness of light, giving the station an unexpected gravitas.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
58th Street, New York, 2012
Gold-toned gelatin silver print
AP 4 of 5
Signed, titled, editioned, and dated on verso
Image size: 17 x 17 inches
Titarenko is known for applying long exposure to street photography, an innovation that introduces the notion of time to the two-dimensional print. This technique reaches its peak in his photographs of New York, where buses, taxis, trains, and planes are in constant movement against a backdrop of both turn-of-the-century façades and the multivalent, overlapping signage of the modern era. In this photograph, this use of long exposure combines with Titarenko’s painterly application of selective toning. A crowd surging across 5th Avenue and 58th Street softens into a blur; while the viewer’s eye is drawn to a taxicab, a street lamp, an American flag, a traffic light, and the dynamic play of the sunlight through the branches of a tree. In the lower right corner, a single figure sits in contemplation, his posture reminiscent of Rodin's famous sculpture Le Penseur (The Thinker). A print from this edition can be found in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Flatiron Building, New York, 2003
Gold-toned gelatin silver print
Edition 5 of 10
Signed, titled, editioned, and dated on verso
Image size: 17 x 17 inches
Titarenko crafts each print by hand in his darkroom, producing a rich, subtle range of tones that renders each print unique. The prints from his New York series are notable for his application of partial bleaching and selective sepia, selenium, and gold toning, as well as for the use of the nineteenth-century Sabattier effect, also known as pseudo-solarization. The toning is seen here in the soft warmth of the lampposts in front of the iconic Flatiron building. Titarenko’s masterful printmaking also helps to highlight his longtime interest in water and its relationship to the city, bringing out the texture and reflective quality of water and rain and infusing each image with moisture and light.
ALEXEY TITARENKO (b. 1962)
Central Park in Winter, New York, 2024
Gold-toned gelatin silver print
Edition 4 of 10
Signed, titled, editioned, and dated on verso
16 x 16 inches
Titarenko creates a delicate range of gray, blue, pink, and gold tones in the sky and snow. The majestic trees frame the composition, and the passerby with the red umbrella draws our attention. The sunset is illuminated on the horizon, the mist creates a sublime atmosphere. In this landscape of the Reservoir in Central Park, we feel an intimate connection between the place and the inner self of the artist.
PENTTI SAMMALLAHTI (b. 1950)
Helsinki, Finland (dog stretching), 1982
Toned gelatin silver print
Signed and dated under image recto
6 x 6 5/8 inches
PENTTI SAMMALLAHTI (b. 1950)
Solovki, White Sea, Russia, 1992
Toned gelatin silver print
Signed and dated under image recto
6 12 x 14 inches
PENTTI SAMMALLAHTI (b. 1950)
Helsinki (Embrace), 2003
Toned gelatin silver print
Signed and dated under image recto
6 3/16 x 7 3/8 inches
PENTTI SAMMALLAHTI (b. 1950)
Western Cape, South Africa, 2002
Gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on recto
6 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches
Nailya Alexander Gallery is excited to participate in The Photography Show 2025 presented by AIPAD, the premier art fair for contemporary, modern, and 19th-century photography in New York City. The show will run in the historic Park Avenue Armory from April 24 through April 27, with a VIP opening preview on Wednesday, April 23 from 4 pm to 9 pm.
We are exhibiting in Booth B5 together with Galeria Vasari from Buenos Aires. Our gallery will highlight a rare exhibition-sized vintage photograph from 1937 by Sergey Shimansky (1898-1972), recent photographs of New York by Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962), works by Pentti Sammallahti (b. 1950) and George Tice (1938-2025).
