Choice of Evgeniy Khaldei

The exhibition presents a new look at the work of the outstanding Soviet photographer Yevgeny Khaldei.

The basis of the exhibition is a collection of photographs by Evgeniy Khaldei, personally selected by him over the years and donated to the Donetsk Republican Museum of Local Lore. Also on display are famous works by the author during the Great Patriotic War from the TASS archive and photographs of architectural subjects from the collection of the Museum of Architecture. A. V. Shchuseva.

Evgeny Khaldey (1917–1997) is a famous military photojournalist for TASS. He participated in the Great Patriotic War from the first to the last day and went from Murmansk to Berlin. I also prepared reports from the Arctic, Crimea, Novorossiysk, Rostov-on-Don and other cities. Participated in the liberation of Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and Germany. Covered the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow, the Potsdam Conference and the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Many of his works have become classics of world photography, repeatedly shown at exhibitions, published in the media and published in books. Much less known are the works of Evgeniy Khaldei, created by him in peacetime.

Evgeniy Khaldey was born in Yuzovka (now Donetsk) in 1917 and throughout his life he maintained contact with his small homeland. During his visits to Donetsk, the photographer personally selected and regularly donated his works to the museum, thanks to which a collection of photographs created by the author in the years 1950-1970 was formed. It is this circumstance that gives the collection special value. The photographs reflect a variety of aspects of life; they tell about the architecture of Donetsk, the everyday work life and leisure activities of Chaldea’s fellow countrymen. A significant part of the collection consists of portraits of Donbass workers - people working in industry and agriculture. Many of the works are being shown in Moscow for the first time.