Cartier-Bresson’s wooden church photograph – 1970s
Washerwomen by the river Kamenka, Suzdal – early 1970s
This photograph has been scanned from my copy  of  Henri Cartier–Bresson’s book ‘About Russia’ published by Thames and Hudson in London in August 1974 and no doubt bought by me in London in August 1974. £6.50 when £6.50 was £6.50. Cartier-Bresson made three trips to the Soviet Union, his book, published in 1955 in England as ‘The People of Moscow’ was the  result of his first trip in 1954, the trips in 1972 and 1973 resulted in ‘About Russia’.
Last week I bought a pristine copy of ‘Mosca’ the Italian edition of ’The People of Moscow’ in the wonderful bookshop Hoepli in Milan. They had several copies, no doubt they had recently been discovered in a box at the back of a cupboard. ‘Mosca’ cost me 100 euros – £4.25 in old money (1955) so not a bad price. That got me looking at my Cartier-Bresson books on my return and ‘About Russia, turned up this photo of a wooden church. I’m pleased to say that it still exists. It is the Church of St Nicholas (1766) from the village of Glotovo. It was transferred to Suzdal in 1960.
December 25th, 2014 at 9:43 am
That’s wonderful – thanks for posting it.
Happy Christmas Richard!
December 28th, 2014 at 6:41 pm
Thank you for sharing this wonderful image. There was an exhibition of his photographs in Brisbane three years ago but I can’t remember seeing anything from Russia.
Wishing you a a very happy and healthy New Year
Christina