VLADIMIR STEPANOV FOUNDATION

Natalia Grigorieva-Litvinskaya Collector, founder and chief-curator of the Lumiere Gallery

Work with the Vladimir Stepanov Foundation began in 2021, when, by the photographer’s decision, the archive of the author’s negatives was transferred to the Lumiere Gallery. The opening of the author’s foundation was a natural continuation of the fruitful creative cooperation between the Gallery and the photographer over the past decade.

The large–scale preparatory work of the foundation’s project was carried out jointly with Vladimir Stepanov – hundreds of images were scanned, retouched and systematized for opening the archive to the general public and further research of the author’s art.

The work of Vladimir Stepanov, an author belonging to a new generation of photographers, stands out vividly against the backdrop of staged and often censored plots of Soviet photojournalism of the 1950s. In the works of the master, a new visual canon can be traced – a love for genre scenes and urban color; the desire to capture the free spirit of the “Thaw” era largely determined his shooting presentation and author’s style.

Over the past ten years, we have held several exhibitions with the participation of the author’s works:

2007 – “Photo 60-70”. Lumiere Brothers Gallery (Moscow, Russia)

2010 – “Icons. 1960–1980”. Lumiere Brothers Photography Center (Moscow, Russia)

2010 – “Soviet photographic art of the 60s and 70s”. Lumiere Brothers Photography Center (Moscow, Russia)

2013 – “Moscow Stories”. Part 2. Lumiere Brothers Photography Center (Moscow, Russia)

2018 – “The Soul of Moscow streets”. Lumiere Brothers Photography Center (Moscow, Russia)

2023 – “In the shadow of  high-rises”. Lumiere gallery (Moscow, Russia)

Today, the foundation’s website presents 300 works by Vladimir Stepanov. The posted archive of photographs covers the period of the “Thaw” era, 1957-1965, in the work of the author. Sections “Moscow. 1957-1965” and “Prague 1962” are the most complete, in which the author reveals genre stories from the life of cities. Photos of other sections are thematic photo essays dedicated to the life of VGIK, the I Moscow International Film Festival, the artist Alexander Deyneka.

The search for photos on the foundation’s website is carried out in several ways: by section, chronology, title or keyword.

The purpose of creating the website of the Vladimir Stepanov Foundation is to combine on one platform the exhibition works of the author, as well as his unknown frames found by us during research work with the archive, providing access to them to the widest possible audience. The opening of an individual website dedicated to Stepanov’s work was an important milestone in the interaction with the master. Further research work on the archive involves the development and study of the material, the creation of personal exhibition projects, as well as plans to create an author’s monograph in the future.

Vladimir Stepanov was born in 1940 in Moscow. He begins to shoot in the late 1950s, in 1957 several amateur photographs of Stepanov are printed in «Evening Moscow», and then he begins cooperation with the magazine «Soviet Photo». In 1958, he began working in the TASS newsreel and as a freelance reporter at the First International Moscow Film Festival.

If in the 1950s Soviet photojournalism was still based on staging and strict censorship, the new generation of photographers, to which Stepanov belonged, sought to get away from the accepted rules. Soon this opportunity arises, along with the political context, the canon of art changes, finally transforming itself in the 1960s. Among other things, the magazine Czech Photo appeared on store shelves, which has become a kind of textbook for many young photographers.

The central theme of the photographs of Vladimir Stepanov at first becomes his hometown. A young photographer walks the streets and boulevards, looks into the yards and takes pictures of the life of the city and its inhabitants. Thanks to his photographs, we still have documentary evidence of Moscow, which is no longer there. «Photography» Moscow. Pankratevsky Lane (1950-60s), filmed in the style of Italian neorealism — says the author of today. But then we didn’t even know about its existence.» Many stories of different people came together in one image. There is nothing superfluous in it—the story of a whole yard in one photograph.

In 1962, Vladimir Stepanov participated in the exhibition «Our Youth», which took place in Gorky Park and became an important event among young people and domestic photojournalists. The photographer and editor of the magazine «Soviet Photo» Valery Gende- Rote drew attention to Stepanova, together with him and Evgeny Kassin they took this exhibition to Prague in 1963, where Stepanov also took a lot of enthusiastic shots. Photos «Prague. July. 5.3 in the morning», «Prague. Curiosity» 1963 — excellent examples of genre photography.

His photographs are published on the covers of the magazine «Soviet Photo», «Evening Moscow» and in other publications. In the same 1963, he entered the filming department of VGIK, and since that time, his primary profession was working in the cinema. In 1967, Stepanov began working as a cameraman and director at the film studio of the USSR Ministry of Defense. And since 1976, the cameraman of the Creative Association «Screen».

All works posted on the site are protected by copyright. Any posting not agreed with the copyright holder of the photographs is a violation of copyright and entails consequences under the provisions of the federal law on copyright and related rights of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Bronze Panther. Moscow Zoo, 1958

Balloons. Chistoprudny Boulevard, 1956

Summer-House Mood. Pokrovka Street, 1963

Daring Divers. Sofiyskaya Embankment, 1956

Next to the Historical Museum. Manezhnaya Square, 1963

Sun-Drenched April. Tsvetnoy Boulevard, 1956

Future Tractor Operator. VDNKh Exhibition Centre, 1957

Skipping Rope. Staroalekseyevskaya Street, 1956

New Repertoire in Moscow Theaters. Mira Avenue, 1963

Boy with an Ice Cream. Kuznetsky Most Street, 1958

Four Little Sledders. Sretensky Boulevard, 1956

Biker in our Building. 108 Mira Avenue,1957

In Pushkin Square, 1958

From the Chistoprudny Boulevard and Its Dwellers series, 1957

Caught in Rain Near the Lobnoye Mesto. Red Square, 1958

Fatigue. 1957-1965

Morning at the Suvorov School. 1957-1965

Sitting on a Fence. Furmanny Lane, 1957

I don’t want to! 1957-1965

Spray of a Fountain, 1963

Guard and Prisoner. Village of Bykovo, 1956

Moscow State University on Lenin Hills, 1957

Watering the Lawn. Mira Avenue, 1957

News. Mira Avenue. 1957-1965

Cooking lunch. Mira Avenue. 1957-1965

In thought. Chistoprudny Boulevard. 1957-1965

Nadezhda Zaglada. Hero of Social labor, a cucurbit grower, a beet grower. The Red Square. Moscow 1963

Road Repairs in Maroseyka Street, 1963

Clearing Away the Snow from the Drill Ground, 1958

Playing Chess in Chistoprudny Boulevard, 1957

Police Raid. Moscow Criminal Investigation Department Officers. Pyatnitskaya Street, 1957

Moscow Alley. Pankratyevsky Lane, 1956

Tenth floor; Building the tenth floor. Mira Avenue. 1957-1965

Washing windows. Chistoprudny Boulevard. 1957-1965

A clean window. 1957-1965

Photographer. 1957-1965
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Selected exhibitions

2023
“In the shadow of high-rises”, Lumiere gallery, Moscow

2018
“The soul of Moscow streets. Vladimir Stepanov”, The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow

2017
“Masters of Soviet Photojournalism”, PhotoVisa, Krasnodar

2016
“GAUDEAMUS: From the History of Russian Students”, The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow

2015
“Soviet Photo”, The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow

2012
“We are. The best photographs of the XX century”, The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow
“Collection of the Lumiere Brothers gallery. Jubilee Exhibition”, The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow

2010
“Soviet Photographic Art of the 60-70s”, The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow

2008
“Anthology of Russian photography of the twentieth century. Photo 60-70 “, The Lumiere Brothers gallery

VLADIMIR STEPANOV 1950 – 1960

The Lumière Gallery and the Still Art Foundation present a new monograph by the author Vladimir Stepanov
“Vladimir Stepanov 1950-1960,” Still Art Foundation and Galerie Lumière, 2023
In February 2023, Galerie Lumière and the Still Art Foundation will present a monograph by Vladimir Stepanov. The album includes the best shots from the unique Moscow series that the photographer captured in the 1950s and 1960s. He walks the streets and boulevards, looks into the courtyards – takes pictures of real life. His innate talent, delicate taste and fresh look at the future of photography helped him to reproduce the uniqueness of the moment, mood, details of everyday life and the texture of the time incredibly accurately. Thanks to his work we have evidence of a Moscow that no longer exists.
The introductory articles for the book Vladimir Stepanov 1950-1960 were written by photography historian Darya Panayotti, founder of the Lumiere Gallery Natalia Grigorieva-Litvinskaya, and Elena Karisalova, founder of the Still Art Foundation. Graphic designer Evgeny Korneev, founder of the Razdizayn bureau, designed the album in the unique style of the Still Art and Lumière Gallery series, an exploration of the Soviet photography period.
“His Moscow series, gaining a place in the author’s biography and in the history of late-Soviet photography, looks truly like a monument to the era,” writes photography historian Daria Panayotti.

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