DESCRIPTION

The Moisei Nappel’baum collection consists of 721 photographs, most taken between 1910 and 1958. The majority are portraits of prominent Soviet political, cultural, and academic figures; the rest feature scenes from ballet or theater performances or from Nappel’baum’s family life.

Moisei Nappel’baum (1869-1958) was a master of the photographic portrait, a pioneer in artistic photography, and the primary photographer of the Soviet cultural and political elite. He was born in Minsk, where he began his career as an apprentice in a photography studio. He soon developed his own techniques for lighting and insisted that those sitting for his portraits pose naturally, to show their personality. While he did not retouch the figures themselves, he used watercolor to lightly paint the backgrounds of the negatives, giving his photographs a painterly effect. These brushstrokes can be seen in many of the portraits in the collection.

Following his apprenticeship, Nappel’baum traveled widely across Europe and the United States before returning to Russia and opening his own studio in St. Petersburg and later in Moscow. He became the unofficial photographer first for writers and artists of the Silver Age and then for Bolshevik leaders, including Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.

While most of the photographs in this collection were taken by Nappel’baum himself, several were taken by his daughter, Ida Moiseevna Nappel’baum, a poet, memoirist, and photographer in her own right.

This collection is part of an archive compiled by the filmmaker, writer, and collector Ilya Rudiak. Ilya Rudiak (1939–2020) was born in the town of Dzhuryn, Ukraine. Prior to his emigration to the United States in 1980, he worked as a film director and head of the acting school at the Odesa Film Studio, one of the leading movie studios in the Soviet Union. After leaving the USSR, Ilya settled in Chicago, Illinois, where he opened the House of Russian Books—a community bookstore and cultural center. For most of his life, Ilya was an avid collector of books, archives, and art objects, and he shared his treasures with others through publications and public events. We are grateful to his widow, Olga Rudiak, for enabling the Blavatnik Archive to continue Ilya’s legacy.

DATES

1910-1960