Black & White Photos of Soviet Union in 1954 by Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson visited the Soviet Union in 1954 to document daily life under communism, the first foreign photographer to photograph “freely” in the post-war since Stalin’s death a year earlier. After this first trip to Russia, a second one came 19 years later for Cartier-Bresson. He was looking forward to it with the expectation to see the changes. “There is nothing more revealing than comparing a country with itself by grasping its differences and trying to discover the thread of its continuity,” he said.

Tretyakovsky Art Gallery, Moscow, USSR, 1954

City life, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Gorky Park, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Circus, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Circus, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Tretyakovsky Art Gallery, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Tretyakovsky Art Gallery, Moscow, USSR, 1954

A Hat, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Sadovaya Street, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Pedestrian walk, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Cafeteria of the Workers' building, the Hotel Metropol, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Exhibition of National Economy Achievements (VDNH), Moscow, USSR, 1954

Sport Day at Dinamo stadium - spectators - Moscow, USSR, 1954

Subway, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Sokolniki park, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Sokolniki church, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Sokolniki church, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Serebryany Bor, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Reding-hall at Lenin Library, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Morning at Red Square, Moscow, USSR, 1954

First Bike, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Gorky Street, Moscow, USSR, 1954

Fasion, Moscow, USSR, 1954

About store show-window, Moscow, USSR, 1954

ZiS (Stalin automobile plant) assembly line, Moscow, USSR, 1954

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