Soviet liberalization in “Thaw Chronicle” photographs

A photo-exhibition of TASS news agency’s reporters of the Soviet era, titled “Thaw Chronicle,” has opened in Moscow.

The ideologically verified newspaper photos were made during 1955-1963, and picture the lightest moments of Khrushchev’s ‘thaw’.

After Joseph Stalin’s death in March 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the the leader of the Soviet Union, serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1953 to 1964. Together with him came numerous reforms and the devaluation of Stalin’s regime, opening the USSR for economic reforms, international trade, and educational and cultural contacts.

That was a true breakthrough for the time, making the state much more open than before. International festivals, uncensored books of foreign authors, foreign movies, art shows, popular music, dances, and new fashions completely transformed Soviet people’s minds.

People of the USSR were filled with hopes for a brighter future. The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) regularly covered this positive process. Pictures of the time were aimed to reveal the positive image of Soviet life, featuring the most talented scientists, frontier craftsmen, strongest sportsmen, and just the happiest people in the lighted streets, fully packed theatres, or recreation resorts.

Regional photo-reporters of the news agency were given certain guidelines of how Soviet life should be featured. Moscow’s TASS head office sent the correspondents photographs of their colleagues in other regions to give a clear example of what sort of pictures the agency needed.

So the spectators of the exhibition will get a chance to see smiling faces of the major historic figures of the time, including the first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, General Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev, the then politically-noteworthy people, foreign actors, and others. All pictures are supplied with authors’ summaries.

Among the press photographers, whose professionalism was justified not only by their then-bosses in TASS, but also by modern critics, are Mark Redkin and Nikolay Kuleshov, Naum Granovsky, the reporter of the governmental voyages, Vasily Egorov, Lev Porter, Nikolay Seluchenko and others.

The exhibition will be at the Galeev Galery in Moscow until May 13.