Dimitri Baltermants (Дм. Бальтерманца) - Москва (Moscow) - 1963

Most Moscow photobooks of the Soviet era were designed to showcase the imperial capital of the new Communist global empire and this publication is no exception. Printed during the height of the 'Thaw', ten years after the death of Josef Stalin, this propaganda photobook shows the Soviet capital in lush, vibrant colours, reflecting the optimism and growing confidence of the USSR at that time.

The brutality of Stalin had been replaced by the relative openness of Khrushchev, the Soviets were winning the space race, the USSR was both feared and respected as a global superpower, science and technology promised a better future, the physical ravages of the Second World War were being repaired while the new apartment blocks being thrown up everywhere promised clean, modern housing for all. This optimistic narrative is conveyed by this photobook which quickly moves from the centre of imperial power in the Kremlin to broad city avenues and then the new suburbs. Industry is flourishing and people are happy in this thriving city. Citizens of the provinces were expected to awe at the modernity of Moscow while visitors from Iron Curtain countries were treated as supplicants coming to pay homage to the all-powerful country who ruled them from afar.

In the pages of this dazzling propaganda photobook, the promises of Communism appear to have come true and the triumph of the Soviet Union is presented as inevitable.

Amongst those who contributed to this book was the renowned photographer Dimiti Baltermants (Дм. Бальтерманца) who is best known for his famous images taken during World War 2. "After stints as a metal grinder, copy editor, and cinema mechanic, he was hired as an apprentice printer at the Izvestia Printing House, which sent him to study at Moscow State University. He earned a degree in mechanical mathematics and was assigned to teach at a military academy in 1939; shortly thereafter, the paper Izvestia called him to cover the Soviet invasion of Poland. Having taught himself photography while a student, Baltermants had been making pictures since 1936, and his photographs from the Polish invasion led to a career in photojournalism. As a photographer with the Red Army, he covered major events of World War II, including battles outside Moscow in November 1941 and in the eastern Crimea during the winter of 1942. It was then that he made his most famous photograph, Grief, which depicts family members mourning soldiers massacred during a German retreat. Because the Soviet press wanted only positive pictures of war, which suggested impending victory for the Soviet Union, this photograph, and others--including An Attack--were not seen until more than twenty years later. After the war, and until his death in 1990, Baltermants worked as a staff photographer in Moscow for the illustrated magazine Ogonyok."

Condition:
Very good. Clean, fresh copy. 'Moskau, November 1963' written on blank front page by previous owner - probably purchased by an (East) German traveller at the time. Please examine listing photographs carefully.