Steidlville

Many artists of the Russian avant-garde wholeheartedly embraced the Revolution as the triumph of a new socialist order. At the same time, they also assigned a special role to photography in the erection of a new society. The camera was confirmed as the ideal technical instrument for social reconfiguration and for the education of the population in an entirely altered way of life. The leaders of this movement developed all-encompassing programmes for the enlistment of photography to replace traditional perception with a new vision. Whereas this innovative potential of photography had developed rather freely during the 1920s, it was later exploited for propaganda. After 1936, all artistic work was absolutely subject to directives of the Party and the wishes of the dictator Stalin.

Daniela Mrázková assembled her unique collection of 234 original photographs by Arkadii Shaikhet, Georgii Zel’ma, Boris Ignatovich, Maks Al’pert, Georgii Petrusov and Aleksandr Rodchenko during the Cold War, to give a voice to “the other Soviet Union”. The pictures in this collection comprise a representative section of the era’s photography, yet they also reflect the unstoppable slide into the abyss of Stalinist despotism. Museum Ludwig, Cologne, bought the collection from Daniela Mrázková in 2008 and is now presenting it within this catalogue.