Photos from the magazine "Soviet Photo"

Duel, 1963
The political thaw of the 1960s brought new energy into photography art. This image is from the Moscow State University series of Vsevolod Tarasevich.
Photo: Vsevolod Tarasevich

In the laboratory of physics, 1960
Anatoly Khrupov was another photographer who was guided by the achievements of Soviet science. Here he captured a technician at work in the laboratory of the Vilnius University in Lithuania.
Photo: Photo Gallery named after the Lumiere brothers

Gymnastics-I, Universiade, Moscow, 1973
This collage of four different photos is the result of an experiment with the form and abstraction of Alexander Abaz, who turned gymnastic exercises into an alphabet of gestures.
Photo: Alexander Abaza

The twelfth symphony, 1961
This portrait of the famous composer Dmitry Shostakovich represents a shift in Soviet reportage photography. Vsevolod Tarasevich found out where the composer had a rest in between performances, and took a picture with a hidden camera, abandoning the staged shooting in favor of the honesty and sincerity of the frame.
Photo: Vsevolod Tarasevich

Stories about the sea, 1976
Lithuanian photographer Vitaly Butyrin turns to rich Soviet history, often using surreal photo montage. This image is part of a series called "Stories about the Sea"
Photo: Vitaly Butyrin

Concrete plant, 1954
After the war, Vsevolod Tarasevich returned to photography, worked for the magazines “Soviet Union”, “Ogonek”, “Worker”, and also “Soviet Photo”. Most of his pictures are related to the achievements of science and technology.
Photo: Vsevolod Tarasevich

The Enemy, 1944
Since the beginning of World War II, photojournalism has come to the defense of the Fatherland. This photo of Anatoly Egorov, who was wounded in battle, depicts the corporal Stepan Vasilievich Ovcharenko shooting at enemy troops with a Maxim machine gun.
Photo: Anatoly Egorov

Backstage of the Bolshoi Theater, 1983
This is a snapshot from the series “Behind the Scenes of the Big Ballet”, which brought Vladimir Vyatkin a prize in the World Press Photo competition.
Photo: Vladimir Vyatkin

Youth, 1937
This photograph of Boris Ignatovich demonstrates how photographers later turned to socialist realism. The implication was that the pictures should not just reflect reality, but show the communist ideal.
Photo: Boris Ignatovich

Homeless Bathing, 1927
Arkady Shaikhet was born in 1898, he was only 19 years old when the revolution in Russia shook the world. After the war, he continued to hone his technique from artistic reportage to documentary.
Photo: Arkady Shaikhet