Moscow. Photographs by William Klein. Preface by Harrison Salisbury. Crown, New York, 1964. 184 pp. Folio. First U.S. edition. Clothbound in graphically illustrated dust jacket. Numerous full-page gravure reproductions.
In this, the third of Klein's city books (published the same year as Tokyo) all of the characteristics of his inimitable style are present: the harsh flash, wide-angle shots, blurring, and grainy printing used to create gritty, chaotic pictures of street life. Significantly, though, many of the images in this book subvert the cold war idea of the Soviet Union as a drab, depressing place. Amidst the laughter and leisure of everyday life in the city, even the soldiers cavort jovially in the street. Whether or not Klein's intention was to humanize the Soviets at a time when the cold war was in full swing, in his pictures Moscow comes across as an altogether more amiable place than it was portrayed in the Western media of the time.
Fine/Near Fine; just a hint of tanning to boards; jacket worn at upper edge; small (1/4") chip at crown of spine |
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