Taken by unknown visitors to Moscow between 1958 and 1959, this group of photographs have no provenance whatsoever and as such, are full of potential. These visitors stay at the better hotels (the Moscow and the Ukraine) and take photographs from their balconies. They take pictures of other people taking pictures. A man in a hat poses in the middle of a street holding a briefcase, a prominent landmark in the distance behind him. Another odd tourist in a long overcoat is photographed whilst taking photographs.
When one tries to fill the gaps with story, it’s difficult not to feel the the aura here of a Graham Greene novel. Khrushchev’s Russia is amping up, blatantly confronting the West; testing nuclear weapons, launching Sputnik 3; shooting down US planes in Soviet airspace. Cold War is fermenting. Moscow is a shadowy, threatening place for these visitors to be and yet there they are.
Fortepan / Dán Zsuzsanna
the 1953 APU-1. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Fortepan / Szent-tamási Mihály
Fortepan / Szent-tamási Mihály
Fortepan : Répay András
Fortepan : Répay András
Fortepan – Chuckyeager tumblr
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta.
Fortepan / Répay András
Fortepan / Chuckyeager tumblr
Fortepan / Szent-tamási Mihály
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
the Spaskaya Tower, once the main entrance to the Kremlin and the Lenin Mausoleum is on the right. 1959.
Fortepan : Dömölky Etelka
Fortepan /Wein Sarolt
Fortepan : Dömölky Etelka
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
Fortepan / Dobóczi Zsolt
Fortepan / Németh Tamás Tverskaya
Fortepan – Chuckyeager tumblr
behind the fence is Lomonosov Avenue. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelka
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
Fortepan / Wein Sarolta
the high-rise building in the background is on the Kotyelnyeskaya embankment of the Moscow River. 1959.
Fortepan / Dömölky Etelk