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Exceedingly rare vintage matte-finish 3 x 4.25 head-and-shoulders photo of Vladimir Lenin, signed in ink with a variant spelling of his birth name in French, "Vladimir Oulianoff, 26/V 1920." Displayed in its original 5 x 6.75 mat, signed in the lower right corner in pencil by the photographer, "Nappelbaum." In very good to fine condition, with some faint surface scuffs, light silvering to the darker areas of the image, and Nappelbaum's signature indistinct against the dark brown mat.
Moisei Solomonovich Nappelbaum (1869–1958) was one of the most important portrait photographers of prerevolutionary Russia and the early Soviet Union, elevating studio portraiture into a refined form of art photography through his careful lighting and painterly retouching techniques. His most famous work, this portrait of Vladimir Lenin, was taken at the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg in January 1918, during a pivotal historical moment. Lenin had only recently consolidated power following the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, which overthrew the Provisional Government and marked the beginning of Soviet rule. As leader of the Bolsheviks, Lenin was in the process of transforming a revolutionary movement into a governing regime, navigating civil unrest, economic collapse, and the early stages of the Russian Civil War.
Nappelbaum’s portrait is widely regarded as a seminal photograph, considered the first official image of Lenin as head of the new Soviet state. Unlike later, more propagandistic depictions, this image presents Lenin with a striking immediacy and humanity, capturing his intellectual intensity and the burden of leadership at a moment of profound uncertainty. The present print shows typical graphic retouching by the artist, particularly in the background and lapel areas, reflecting Nappelbaum’s distinctive artistic approach. The photograph not only helped define Lenin’s visual identity for a rapidly changing nation but also set a precedent for Soviet political portraiture in the years that followed.
By tradition, this photograph was presented by Lenin to the English socialist politician George Lansbury (1859–1940), who had visited the Soviet Union in early 1920 and met with Lenin in Moscow. Later that same year, Lansbury published a widely received account of his journey, 'What I Saw in Russia,' in which he gave a highly flattering portrayal of Lenin.
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