Introduction
Photographers immortalize the faces of many people; everyday they can give a face a share of eternity. Man, who has always been fascinated by his own likeness, has been even more so since photography has allowed him to record it so easily and so unforgivably. Many photographers have engaged in the vanity of contemplating their own image in self-portraits and overcome the challenge of doing so, confronting the spectator with most troubling images of exposure and vulnerability.
Apart from specific instances of introspection, it is unusual to see a
photographer's own face. Most certainly this is because what really matters
is the work. But as we have been entrusting these eyes to shape our vision
of the world and our understanding of history, what really matters is
how a photographer looks at, and to that end it is not completely irrelevant
to look at a photographer working. It is then opportune that images of
photographers exist by the plenty: snapshots, most often taken by colleagues
on assignments or casually among friends and self-portraits.
The purpose of this exhibition is to present a photographer at work, rather
than presenting his work. These images enlighten us on the conditions
in which he worked, on his way of interacting with the subject, on the
man himself and hopefully on the work too, which we will feature in an
upcoming exhibition.
And ultimately this exhibition should give him too a deserved share of
fame.
Biography
Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1906, Georgii Anatolevich Zelma moved to Moscow with his family in 1921, where he began taking pictures with an old 9 x12 Kodak camera. He made his first experiences as a photographer at the Proletkino film studios and during theater repetitions for the magazine Teatr.
But soon he joined the Russ-Foto agency. From 1924 to 1927, he returned to his homeland as their correspondent for Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia in order to document Islamic culture being reformed by Soviet socialist reconstruction. This work was published in Pravda Vostoka. In 1927 Zelma was enlisted in the ranks of the Red Army, serving in Moscow. After the demobilization in 1929 he came back to Tashkent and worked briefly for the Uzbek cinema chronicles.
Back again in Moscow he entered the team of Soiuzfoto and received a Leica. Through the 1930s, he was sent on assignment to the mines and factories in the Donbass region, to Collective Farms in Tula province and to the Soviet Military maneuvers in the Black Sea region. He worked with Roman Karmen on the stories The USSR from the Air and Ten Years of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Iakutia, which were published in the propaganda magazine USSR in Construction. For this magazine he also collaborated with Max Alpert and Aleksandr Rodchenko.
During World War II he was a correspondent for Isvestiia stationed at the front-line campaigns in Moldova, Odessa, and Ukraine. His most memorable photographs are of the Battle of Stalingrad, where he spent the severe winter of 1942-43. After the war Zelma worked for the magazine Ogonek and from 1962 for the Novosti press agency. He died in 1984.
Enter
the Exhibition
For more information, or to inquire about purchasing:
Howard Schickler Fine Art, LLC
55 Washington St. #208 (entrance at 111 Front St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Telephone: 718-408-1220
E-mail: gallery@schicklerart.com
©2005 Howard
Schickler Fine Art