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Copyright by Jessica Marie Werneke 2015 The Dissertation Committee for Jessica Marie Werneke Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Boundaries of Art: Soviet Photography from 1956 to 1970 Committee: Joan Neuberger, Supervisor Charters Wynn David Crew Mary Neuburger Michael Charlesworth The Boundaries of Art: Soviet Photography from 1956 to 1970 by Jessica Marie Werneke, B. A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May, 2015 Dedication To those who I loved, continue to love, and always will love; Mushi, Pasha, Lucy and Karl. Acknowledgements I would first and foremost like to thank my committee, Charters Wynn, David Crew, Mary Neuburger and Michael Charlesworth for their help, suggestions and commentary. I particularly thank Joan Neuberger, for her guidance and dedication to this project, without her advice this dissertation may not have materialized. This project would not have been possible without research fellowships from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011 and an Advanced Research Fellowship, funded by the U.S. Department of State and The American Councils Title VIII Research Scholar Program, in 2013. Thank you to the archivists at GARF and RGALI. At RGANI, I would like to thank Larissa Aleksandrovna, Tatiana Ivanovna, Ludmilla, and particularly Raisa, who was always very kind even when the archival process was not. Thank you to the employees of the Moscow Union of Photographers, who were happy to provide me with workspace and attempt to answer any questions I had (no matter how convoluted). Thank you to my family who have always been supportive of, if confounded by, my love of Russian history. A very special thanks to John Little, James Ryan, Fedor (Fedya) Kozlov, Deirdre Ruscitti, Max Culbertson, and Jacob Ptacek for your friendship and words of wisdom. Finally, thank you to Michael Loader who has had unlimited patience for this project, for acting as a sounding board, and, last but not least, for your general love and support. v The Boundaries of Art: Soviet Photography from 1956 to 1970 Jessica Marie Werneke, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: Joan Neuberger In January 1957, the Soviet Ministry of Culture, assisted by the Union of Journalists, resumed publication of the premiere photography journal of the Soviet Union, Sovetskoe Foto after a sixteen year hiatus. The relative openness of the Khrushchev period, also known as the cultural Thaw, fostered a climate of enthusiasm for photojournalists and amateur photographers, who sought to establish photography as an officially recognized art form. My dissertation argues that between 1957 and 1962, this project seemed achievable; the relative openness of the period offered photojournalists the opportunity to discuss their craft and reconceptualize their work in ways that had been impossible in previous decades. In response to Khrushchev‘s denunciation of Stalin in 1956, it is my assertion that the boundaries of viable visual representation were shifting, and that a previously outcast artistic movement could be reexamined as a way for photojournalists and amateur photographers to demonstrate photography‘s aesthetic properties. My dissertation examines the connections between documentary and aesthetic arguments made by Soviet photographers and photojournalists, which complicated the relationship between art photography and photojournalism. In the mid-1950s and early 1960s, professional photographers returned to these discussions in order to elevate their work, make a case for the creation of a union specifically for photographers. This occurred at the same time that mass media began to incorporate 1920s and 1930s avant- vi garde aesthetics in press and illustrated magazine photographs, making them more accessible to Soviet citizens. The reorientation of Soviet life, towards more private contributions to building socialism, as well as the government and Party‘s interest in expanding and galvanizing the press, meant that illustrated magazines were reaching a wider soviet audience. After 1962, however, professional and amateur photographers confronted the realization that their designs for a photography union and higher education were not gaining official support. Photojournalists and theorists at began arguing not for photography as an art form, but rather something in between art and document. Some amateurs, who had originally desired close correspondence with official photographers and photography clubs, began to turn towards unofficial and nonconformist photography, severing their ties with the official community. vii Table of Contents List of Figures ..........................................................................................................x Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 The Soviet Photograph as ―Art,‖ the Soviet Photograph as Document ..........2 The Thaw and its Historical Context ............................................................19 Chapter 1 Avant-garde Journalism: Illustrated Journals and the Beginnings of Professional Photography in the early Soviet Period ....................................29 The RFO, Early Photography Institutions, and Aesthetics ...........................32 The Reestablishment of Ogonek and Founding Sovetskoe Foto ...................36 Proletarian Photography and Sovetskoe Foto? Oktiabr and the ROPF.........44 Silencing Photographic Debates; The ‗United Front‘ in 1930s Photography... ..............................................................................................................59 Undoing Avant-garde Photography ..............................................................69 World War II and Documetary Photography ................................................71 Chapter 2 Reestablishing Sovetskoe foto: Art Photography and the Artist- Photojournalist .............................................................................................86 Documentary Aesthetics and Sovetskoe Foto ...............................................89 Regulating Photography: The Party, Censorship, and Photojournalism.......98 Photographic Aesthetics in the Late 1950s and Early 1960s ......................103 Photography and Higher Education in the Soviet Union ............................114 Photography Exhibitions and the SSOD .....................................................126 The Avant-garde and Photojournalism .......................................................132 Chapter 3 The Mass Media Away and at Home: Ogonek and International Photography Organizations in the Soviet Union.........................................152 Ogonek and Soviet Photography in the 1950s and 1960s ...........................156 The SSOD, Foreign Photography, and the Photo Section of the Union of Journalists ..................................................................................................172 Photography and the Soviet Bureaucracy ...................................................191 viii Chapter 4 Amateur Photography, Socialist Realism and Governing Unofficial Culture ........................................................................................................197 Amateurism and Technical Expertise .........................................................199 Amateur Photography Clubs and Exhibitions .............................................207 Amateur Photography, Aesthetics, and Education .....................................211 Amateur Education and Sovetskoe Foto .....................................................232 Amateurs, Nudity, and the Birth of Unofficial Photography ......................240 Chapter 5 Beyond Soviet Journalism: Photography after the Thaw ...................252 Professional and Amateur Disillusionment ................................................255 Another Disappointment: Planeta Publishing ............................................260 Photography Between Art and Document ..................................................263 Photography Clubs in the Late 1960s .........................................................271 Fotokruzhki and Non-confomist Photography ............................................283 Unofficial Photographers in the Late Soviet Period ...................................291 Conclusions ..........................................................................................................300 Appendix A Calculated Royalties of the Photography Department of the Soviet Information Bureau. ....................................................................................306 Bibliography ........................................................................................................308 Vita ....................................................................................................................327 ix List of Figures Figure 1: Untitled, Aleksandr Grinberg............................................................34 Figure 2: Sovetskoe Foto, No. 1 1926, Cover ...................................................38 Figure 3: Jump on a Horse, Aleksandr Rodchenko .........................................66 Figure 4: Crossing the Oder, Dmitri Baltermants ...........................................72 Figure 5: The Politruk Continues the Fight, Ivan Shagin ...............................78 Figure 6: