THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE THROUGH THE LENS OF THE AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER: EXHIBITION IN HONOR OF THE 80TH JUBILEE OF WILLIAM BRUMFIELD
Dates: July 24 – September 1. 2024
Venue: A. Shchusev State Research Museum of Architecture (Moscow, 5/25 Vozdvizhenka street, the Apothecary Building)
SEE THE PHOTOS IN THE RUSSIAN VERSION OF THE SITE
Alexey Shchusev State Research Museum of Architecture presents an exhibition “The Russian Avant-Garde Through the Lens of the American Photographer” timed to the 80th jubilee of the Professor of Slavic Studies at Tulane University (USA), Honorary Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Arts William Craft Brumfield. On display are 313 pictures of monuments of Russian avant-garde in various Russian cities from Moscow to Khabarovsk captured by William Brumfield for almost 50 years (1971-2019).
The main idea of the exhibition is to show the viewer the personal photographer’s impression of architecture. It has been implemented through an unusual presentation: pictures of the same objects often taken in different years fr om similar angles with different cameras are presented in the form of photographic films “cut” according to the years of shooting. This approach has allowed to emphasize the process of taking a picture: the search for an angle, inspiration of the moment, photographer’s personal interest in the object. The author’s own reflections on the Soviet architectural avant-garde, principles of his photography and memories permeate the entire exposition and are fully revealed in the video-interview. The exhibition space has been divided into sections dedicated to the regions wh ere William Brumfield focused on avant-garde monuments: Moscow, Leningrad, the area from the Urals to the Far East, remote cities of the Central Volga region, the Central and Southern Russia.
print version