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 / DömölkyEtelka

Fortepan / DömölkyEtelka

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