The Power of Pictures: Early Soviet Photography, Early Soviet Film
Jewish Museum, New York
September 25, 2015 – February 7, 2016
From early vanguard constructivist works by Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, to the modernist images of Arkady Shaikhet and Max Penson, Soviet photographers played a pivotal role in the history of photography. Covering the period from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution through the 1930s, this exhibition explores how early modernist photography influenced a new Soviet style while energizing and expanding the nature of the medium — and how photography, film, and poster art were later harnessed to disseminate Communist ideology. The Power of Pictures revisits this moment in history when artists acted as engines of social change and radical political engagement, so that art and politics went hand in hand.
Avery Classics has volumes 1, 2 and 4 of El Lissitzky’s Industrii︠a︡ sot︠s︡ializma in the exhibition. Rodchenko & Stepanova’s Moskva rekonstruiruetsi︠a︡ and SSSR stroit sot︠s︡ializm by El Lissitzky will also be on display when the show travels to other venues in 2016.
