![Atop Empire State- in construction; Chrysler Bldg & [Daily] News in middle foreground. (1931)](http://cdn1.retronaut.co/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Atop-Empire-State-in-construction-Chrysler-Bldg-Daily-News-in-middle-foreground.-1931--199x123.jpg "Balancing on the Empire State, 1920s")
“During WWII the Soviet Union was very tough on letting foreign, especially Western, journalists enter the USSR, and especially Moscow.
Only after Stalin’s death in 1953 were the first photographers allowed into Moscow and to take the first photographs of the Soviet State. These images are from a very early French photographer, letting the world see the people of Moscow for the first time in a decade.”
The first thumbnail is a great photograph for so many technical reasons, but for a Russophile such as myself, the diversity of people distinguishable is fantastic. I’m really enjoying this website Chris, thanks
Thanks Luke, I appreciate that. More to come from Russia…
What an excellent set of images, not to mention a very touching last paragraph. It may never have been my home, but I do look at these photos and see a time of security, equality, and happiness (especially: top row, third from the left).
This is one of the most original ideas for a blog that I’ve seen in quite some time. Please keep up the good work.
Thanks Charlie, I’m really glad it works for you.
The photos are by Henri Cartier Bresson.
ok in the 11th picture, appears Val Kilmer with glasses. i´m frozzen!
The second picture really struck me.
It’s a very good composition. There’s a tall soldier, hard-faced defender of the nation. A smaller man near him, showing how tall he really is. A woman looking at him, admiringly perhaps. And behind him, one of the 3 “bogatyr”, Russian knights of legend.