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Original Essays | November 5, 2009

John Buntin: IMG Notes from the (Bibliographic) Underground

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The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in the Soviet Union

The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in the Soviet Union Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Book News Annotation:

Stalin would have been a highly qualified candidate for a doublespeak award. Photohistorian and author David King graphically reveals how the Soviet leader manipulated the visual media to suit his career advancement, through his smuggled collection of Soviet-era images--some published here for the first time. In falsifying the photographic and painted record of history and memory, the efforts of Stalin's busy censors were sometimes unwittingly comic, but always a jarring testament to tyranny. 10.25x11.75"
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Description:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 190) and index.
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
crowyhead, March 25, 2008 (view all comments by crowyhead)
This is a creepily visceral historical record. King has obtained many photographs and artworks from Stalinist Russia, and uses them to demonstrate how the historical record was changed -- often systematically -- to support the increasingly oppressive Communist regime. In many cases, he has managed to locate original photographs and their altered counterparts, to demonstrate how those who fell out of political favor were edited out of photographs and out of history. Perhaps most spooky are the pictures from books and photo albums that belonged to individuals, where people's faces are crudely blacked or cut out; often, to even own an undefaced photograph of an "enemy of the state" was enough to be considered an enemy as well. The artwork is also fascinating, as King calls a lot of attention to the propagandizing and the use of art to insert figures like Stalin into historical events that they were not actually present for. I did find myself wishing for more context at times, but this is mainly due to my own ignorance about much of the history of the Soviet Union.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780805052947
Subtitle:
The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia
Other:
King, David
Author:
King, David
Publisher:
Metropolitan Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Techniques
Subject:
Photography
Subject:
History
Subject:
Russia (pre & post Soviet Union)
Subject:
Soviet Union
Subject:
Photographs
Subject:
Forgery of works of art
Subject:
Photography -- Retouching -- Soviet Union.
Subject:
Europe - Russia & the Former Soviet Union
Subject:
ART037000
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Series Volume:
726
Publication Date:
19971015
Binding:
HC
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
192
Dimensions:
11.80x10.11x.75 in. 2.72 lbs.
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