Red Square Expansion

Red Square 

赤の広場

Artist
RODCHENKO, Aleksandr
ロトチェンコ、アレクサンドル
Birth Year
1891
Death Year
1956
Date
ca. 1930 
Technique, Material, Format
gelatin silver print 
Dimension
18.0 x 24.0 cm 
Category
Photograph or Moving Image by ForeignPhotographer/Artist 
Inventory Number
93-PHF-043 

In the 1920s, Alexandre Rodchenko produced a body of pioneering artworks set in the Soviet Union soon after the revolution. His use of close-ups and bold camera angles is well known. However, in this shot, compositional ingenuity has taken a back seat to a snapshot-like style.
The woman is holding a Leica, which at the time had only just been released. This groundbreaking compact camera could be used by anyone, and it had in fact made snapshot photography possible. Through his depiction of this camera and the woman using it with ease, Rodchenko may have been trying to capture a turning point in time, the significance of which went beyond post-revolution buzz in a nascent Soviet Union.
(MATSUNAGA Shintaro)

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