Photo of the forbidden emotions of Alexander Greenberg

In the Gallery of Classical Photography exhibited “forbidden” photographs of the famous Soviet photographer Alexander Grinberg from the author’s family archive.

Several copyright prints, which have never been exhibited before, are presented at the PEKShot 2019 exhibition of film and advertising masters dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Sergei Gerasimov VGIK.

Alexander Greenberg taught at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography from 1923 to 1930, when it was not yet an institute, but the State Technical University of Cinematography. At the PEKShot 2019 exhibition, one can see not only portraits made by him, but also erotic photographs, for which Greenberg was sentenced to five years on charges of producing pornography.

In 1935, Greenberg ventured to expose nude photographs, for which he was accused of pornography, arrested and convicted by the Special Conference of the NKVD of the USSR. In 1939 he was released, and in 1950 he was rehabilitated. From that time until almost his death, he worked as a modest photographer in the Museum of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The story of the arrest for a long time did not give Greenberg a well-deserved recognition. However, after his death, many photographers began to call him a role model. At the end of the XX century, Greenberg became very popular, and is now considered one of the best masters of Russian erotic photography. His works are presented not only in the Tretyakov Gallery, but also in the best museums in Europe.

The exhibition "PEKShot" is held for the 10th time. This year, the exhibition features photographs of the best Russian filmmakers. In addition to photographs of modern cinema figures, the exhibition demonstrates the work of graduates and teachers of VGIK of past years - Sergey Parajanov and Leonid Lazarev. In total, about 200 works are exhibited.

The exhibition runs from April 11 to June 9, 2019.