MAMM | NAUM GRANOVSKY. MOSCOW: FROM THE FIRST TAXIS TO OLYMPIC CONSTRUCTION SITES

Co-organizer: Lumiere Gallery

Exhibition Dates: April 3 – June 1, 2025

The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents an exhibition dedicated to the renowned Russian photographer Naum Granovsky, commemorating the 115th anniversary of his birth. Granovsky is widely regarded as one of the foremost architectural photographers, with Moscow consistently serving as the primary subject of his work. His photographs offer a unique visual chronicle of the city’s architectural evolution from the mid-1920s to the 1980s, reflecting the dynamic transformation of both the urban landscape and the lives of Muscovites. The exhibition also features rare archival footage of Moscow, showcasing different aspects of metropolitan life over the years, including market squares, horse-drawn carriages and taxis, the grand opening of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (now VDNH) and the Moskva swimming pool, as well as the construction of new residential districts and Soviet-era commercial advertisements.

Naum Granovsky was born in 1910 in the city of Alexandria. He developed a passion for photography in his youth, initially using a Kodak camera gifted to him by his father. In 1926, he moved to Moscow and secured a position as a laboratory assistant in the newly established “Press Cliché” workshop at the TASS news agency. A year later, he was promoted to staff photojournalist.

The 1920s marked a period of profound architectural and social transformation in Moscow. Having been designated the capital of the Soviet Union in 1918, the city became a hub of cultural revolution. The utopian aspirations of the new regime, aimed at reshaping society and the individual, found expression in avant-garde architectural projects spearheaded by Constructivist architects. In 1930, Moisei Ginzburg designed the Narkomfin Building, an experimental communal housing project featuring shared kitchens, laundries, and a rooftop solarium. Between 1927 and 1930, the visionary architect Konstantin Melnikov constructed six workers’ clubs in Moscow—multifunctional cultural centers that housed theaters, cinemas, and libraries. Among them were the Rusakov Workers’ Club and the Burevestnik Factory Club. Concurrently, from 1929 to 1936, the French modernist architect Le Corbusier designed the headquarters of the Central Union (Centrosoyuz) in Moscow.

Despite these modernist ambitions, Moscow in the late 1920s and early 1930s retained the characteristics of a merchant city, with its low-rise buildings, narrow winding streets, and bustling marketplaces. During this period, Granovsky turned his lens toward the architectural heritage of old Moscow, capturing landmarks such as the Strastnoy Monastery, Strastnaya Square, and the iconic Sukharev Tower. Many of these structures would soon be demolished or radically transformed as part of the city’s sweeping redevelopment plans of the mid-1930s.

Granovsky’s early photographs also document the rapid evolution of Moscow’s transport system, which adapted to the accelerating pace of urban life and the city’s expanding population. By 1934, horse-drawn trams and carriages had been largely replaced by an extensive tram network that transported 2.6 million passengers daily, leading to frequent tram congestion. In 1925, Moscow introduced its first state-run taxi service, initially consisting of fifteen Renault automobiles. By the mid-1930s, the fleet had grown to approximately 500 taxis, and in 1933, the city saw the introduction of its first trolleybuses.

In 1931, Granovsky was appointed head of the mass printing department at Soyuzfoto, the leading Soviet agency responsible for distributing photographic imagery for both domestic and international publications. From 1934, he worked at the State Publishing House of Fine Arts (IZOGIZ), which played a pivotal role in visually documenting and promoting the achievements of the Soviet state. Architectural photography, particularly of large-scale construction projects, was considered an essential tool of visual propaganda, and IZOGIZ commissioned leading photographers such as Alexander Rodchenko, Mikhail Prekhner, and Eleazar Langman for this purpose.

The consolidation of Soviet power in the 1930s necessitated the creation of a new official style in both art and architecture. The 1932 decree “On the Reconstruction of Literary and Artistic Organizations” established Socialist Realism as the mandated style across all artistic disciplines, including architecture. Moscow became the focal point of this ideological and aesthetic transformation.

One of the most ambitious urban planning initiatives of the Soviet regime was the 1935 General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow, which turned the capital into an extensive construction site. The plan, with modifications, remained in effect until the 1970s. It called for the expansion of streets and squares, the construction of new parks, the Moscow-Volga Canal, bridges, and the metro system, as well as the demolition of historic structures, including the Simonov Monastery, Red Gates, and the Kitay-Gorod Wall. The grandest yet unrealized element of this vision was the Palace of the Soviets, intended to replace the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. However, the implementation of the General Plan was interrupted by World War II.

During the war, Granovsky served as a frontline photojournalist for the newspaper Trevoga, capturing scenes from both the battlefield and the home front while continuing to document Moscow’s wartime defenses. After the war, he returned to the TASS Photo Chronicle, where he remained until his death in 1984.

The postwar period ushered in the height of the Stalinist architectural style, known as Socialist Classicism or Stalinist Empire. Its culmination was the construction of the Seven Sisters—seven monumental skyscrapers (originally planned as eight) that redefined Moscow’s skyline. The foundation stones for these towers were laid on September 7, 1947, during the 800th anniversary celebrations of Moscow, and the last of them, the Hotel Ukraina, was completed in 1957.

By the mid-1950s, Moscow faced a severe housing shortage, with much of its population living in communal apartments or temporary wooden barracks lacking basic amenities. The government’s response was a shift towards mass-produced, cost-effective housing. The 1955 resolution “On Eliminating Excesses in Design and Construction” criticized architectural embellishment and called for simplicity and efficiency. This policy led to the rise of architectural modernism during the Khrushchev Thaw. Large-scale residential developments emerged in districts such as Novye Cheryomushki, Khoroshevo-Mnevniki, and Khimki-Khovrino. Though often derided as “Khrushchyovkas” (a blend of Khrushchev and slum), these standardized five-story buildings played a crucial role in shaping Soviet urban life in the 1950s and 1960s.

A defining example of Soviet modernist urban planning was Kalinin Avenue (now New Arbat), envisioned as early as 1935 but realized only in the 1960s. Led by architect Mikhail Posokhin, the project transformed the avenue into a showcase of Soviet internationalism, featuring commercial spaces, restaurants, and high-rise residential and administrative buildings aligned with global urban trends.

Moscow underwent another wave of architectural change in preparation for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Following the city’s selection as host in 1974, large-scale construction projects commenced, resulting in landmarks such as the Olympic Stadium, Hotel Cosmos, and the Olympic Village, which housed athletes in prefabricated high-rise apartments.

Architectural photography is an exceptionally complex genre, balancing artistic vision with meticulous documentation. While celebrated avant-garde photographers such as Alexander Rodchenko, Boris Ignatovich, Georgy Petrusov, and Dmitry Debabov captured Moscow’s urban transformation in the 1920s and 1930s, Granovsky continued his work well into the 1980s. This longevity allowed him to revisit and document the same locations over decades, offering an unparalleled photographic record of Moscow’s architectural evolution.

Granovsky’s rigorous approach included detailed pre-shooting plans, careful consideration of lighting conditions, and a masterful use of perspective and high vantage points. His archive constitutes an invaluable visual chronicle of Moscow’s transformation across more than fifty years.

In recognition of his contribution, the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow extends its gratitude to Lumiere Gallery and Natalia Grigorieva-Litvinskaya for their generous donation of forty of Granovsky’s works to the museum’s collection.