Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Photography and Political Repressions in Stalin's Russia: Defacing the Enemy

Photography and Political Repressions in Stalin's Russia: Defacing the Enemy

Skopin, Denis

Hardcover

Series: Routledge History of Photography

Art HistoryPhotography History & CriticismRussian & Former Soviet Union Art

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1032027053
ISBN13: 9781032027050
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Mar 30 2022
Pages: 156
Language: English

This book is devoted to the phenomenon of removal of people declared public enemies from group photographs in Stalin's Russia.

The book is based on long-term empirical research in Russian archives and includes 57 photographs that are exceptional in terms of historical interest: all these images bear traces of editing in the form of various marks, such as blacking-out, excisions or scratches. The illustrative materials also include a group of photographs with inscriptions left by officers of Stalin's secret police, the NKVD. To approach this extensive visual material, Denis Skopin draws on a wealth of Stalin-era written sources: memoirs, diaries and official documents. He argues that this kind of political iconoclasm cannot be confused with censorship nor vandalism. The practice in question is more harrowing and morally twisted, for in most cases the photos were defaced by those who were part of victim's intimate circle: his/her colleagues, friends or even close family members.

Also in

Art History

View All