Moscow postcards

«In 1932, Izogiz Publishing, publishers of illustrated photo-albums and the famous magazine «SSSR na Stroike» («USSR under Construction»), asked the artist, designer and photographer Alexander Rodchenko to photograph Moscow. He had shot the city before. In 1925 he had taken angled shots from the balcony and roof of his house on Myasnitskaya Street. He chose the highest points of view in the city — they were underused but contemporary. He climbed up into the Apollo facade on the front of the Bolshoi Theatre, photographed Petrovka from the tops of buildings, looked at the perspective of streets from roofs and photographed demonstrations on Pushkin Square and Myasnitskaya Street. He needed high points of view to convey the depth and size of the city, it's plethora of details. On the other hand, Rodchenko was always interested in shooting city life, its dynamism — all that which goes unnoticed. Rodchenko's photographs tell us how people dressed at the end of the 1920's-early 30's. How they walked down the streets, sat in the trams and buses. We see the advertising and announcements at the entrances of shops; where people eat; how the bridges were mended. The city is full of such moments, and only the camera is capable of capturing them all. Both these priorities inform Rodchenko's work. Every photo is like a postcard, a full episode of city life, for Rodchenko's model, Moscow, is a city of many faces. In 1932, the Moscow photos became a series of postcards. It was one of the first auteur series in the history of Soviet photography. Postcards of statues and scenic views had existed since the start of the 20'th century. Rodchenko showed his Moscow. He focused on the subjects he found important: the factory-kitchen, telephone booths and electric-plants, sports parades, postal vans, street traders. As an artist, designer and photographer, he took note of and valued the way the city changed over time. Today, Rodchenko's photographs of Moscow have turned into rarities. One can't even find them in archives. So we have decided to reintroduce his work, as a history of an old but changing city, as part of the history of Russian photography. (Alexander Lavrentiev).»