The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography presents the first complete retrospective of the classic of Russian photography, Jacob Khalip, based on the family archive, the Center for Photography collection and private collections. The name of Jacob Khalip is known far beyond the borders of the Russian museum world and Russian photographic collections. Khalip’s exhibition and the serious publication associated with it were to appear in Russia a long time ago. However, the body of work of one of the classics of Russian photography over the past 35 years has remained without proper research. The center of photography seeks to fill the gap and for the first time opens the photographer’s archive.

A retrospective exhibition of Jacob Khalip (1908-1980) will allow to trace the development of Soviet photography - from the avant-garde 1920s to the stagnant 1970s - in the mirror of the fate of one photographer. The exposition is built around five key milestones: the shooting of Jacob Khalip at film studios in the company of legendary actors and directors B. Barnet, N. Okhlopkov, S. Eisenstein and others (1927-1930s), bold photo avant-garde experiences with A. Rodchenko and the USSR magazine at a construction site ”(1930s), a heroic series of salvation of a papanin expedition from the Arctic (1938), military photo reports with K. Simonov (1941-1945), as well as thaw shootings for the country’s leading magazines (1950-1970s).

In addition to the classics of domestic photography by Y. Khalip, the frames of the exhibition will show for the first time the newly attributed photographs from the filming of the Soviet films “Moscow in October” (1927), “Katorga” (1928), “Simple Hearts” (1928), “Iron team ”(1930),“ The Path of Enthusiasts ”(1930); advertising shoot for Intourist, the country’s main travel agency; new shots of the 1930s-1960s. More than 100 vintage and modern prints will be presented by “masters of a genre photo essay with its own special style combining photo avant-garde and cinema stunt”.

In addition to photographs, the exhibition will include archived video materials of the Arctic expedition; fragments of early Soviet cinema; joint film experiments with K. Simonov, dedicated to the Second World War; movie chronicle of the 1960s. The Khalipov family archive will reveal unique artifacts that give an idea of the era: documents of the Arctic expedition; original follow-up cards; travel documents and telegrams; 1930s postcard sets ; rare books and brochures with photographs of J. Khalip; magazine publications, thematic albums created by J. Khalip; books on which the photographer worked and much more.

During the exhibition, the first photo album of Jacob Khalip will be presented, as well as a lecture program is planned. The exhibition was organized jointly with Gazprom Neft - the Arctic Time program.

Jacob Khalip. On Watch, 1936