The Commissar Vanishes : The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia

King, David

ISBN 10: 0862417244 / ISBN 13: 9780862417246

Published by Canongate, Edinburgh, 1997

About this Item

This copy signed by King on title page. Fascinating study on the censorship of images in Russia under Stalin's rule. 192 pages, illustrations (some colour). First UK edition, first printing. Red boards, unclipped dust jacket (now in a removable protective sleeve). Slight shelf wear to jacket edges, spine slightly faded, tight and square binding. Photographs available on request. All books dispatched same or next working day in robust packaging.

Seller Inventory # 017932

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Commissar Vanishes : The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia
• Publisher: Canongate, Edinburgh
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0862417244
• ISBN 13: 9780862417246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Photography and Film
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

This volume looks at how Joseph Stalin manipulated the science of photography to further his own political career and to erase the memory of his victims. Over the past 30 years, author and photo-historian David King has assembled the world's largest archive of doctored photographs from the Soviet era, the best of which have been selected for this book. A 1919 photograph of a large crowd of Bolsheviks clustered around Lenin becomes, with the aid of an airbrush, an intimate portrait of Lenin and Stalin sitting alone, and then, in its final version, Stalin by himself. In another, a victim of the purges is replaced by a ghostly Corinthian pillar. In a third, Trostsky is removed from Lenin's side on the occasion of one of the early Bolshevik rallies as was his photograph from almost every book in every library in Russia. According to officialdom Trostsky simply didn't exist. In each case, the juxtaposition of the original and the doctored image yields a terrifying - and often tragically funny - insight into a dark period of history. The end result is an illuminating record which reveals how easily history can be distorted.

Review

"Rarely if ever has what George Orwell fancifully called 'the memory hole' received the kind of stunning real-life elaboration it gets in "The Commissar Vanishes". This lush volume is a fascinating and sobering study of the rewriting of history."-Richard Bernstein, "New York Times" "King has done a remarkable, meticulous job....An incomparable volume....This extraordinary combination of tragedy and farce, which evokes strong, mixed emotions, makes King's album a work of art."-Tatyana Tolstaya, "The New York Review of Books" "Brilliant, fascinating, sinister and hilarious."-Richard Lourie, " New York Times Book Review" "A photographic expert, King has scored a striking success....Overwhelmingly instructive."-Robert Conquest, " Los Angeles Time Book Review"