Emmanuil Evzerikhin: «Never Existed photos»

Emmanuil Evzerikhin created these photographic series in 1957, 1960 and 1965 at the Great Choral Synagogue in Moscow.

They document the major milestones in the life of Moscow's Jewish community: the publishing of the prayer book Mir (Peace), the opening of the Kol-Yaakov yeshiva and the holding of Passover services, as well as the interior of the synagogue and its congregation.

The exhibit includes the majority of photographs taken for all three series. The touching intimacy of a spiritual holiday, the unity of a large group of people taking part in the mystery of the ceremony, contrasts with the sun-drenched streets full of passersby and plain-clothes officers. The shots feature members of the congregation, foreign guests and correspondents, representatives of diplomatic missions, and rabbis who were known by the whole community and who are now legendary: Solomon Shliefer, Yehuda Leib Levin, Shimon Trebnik, Reb Geche. The peaceful holiday atmosphere and the coziness of the alley in central Moscow are perfectly conveyed through the artistic approach characteristic of Evzerikhin's work. Archival materials documenting the essence of the so-called “religious question” and “Jewish question” in the Soviet Union form the basis of the texts accompanying the exhibit.

Evzerikhin never published these photo series in their entirety, and they were preserved only as negatives in the photographer's personal archives.

The exhibit also includes some of Evzerikhin's well-known signature photographs: avant-garde compositions in the spirit of the most cutting-edge artistic work of the 1930s and war coverage that impresses with its exactness and emotional expressiveness. From the reemergence of the country from ruins to the conquering of the skies and space to the economic successes of the post-war years, all the major phases in our country's development passed before the lens of his camera.

Evzerikhin's photography chronicles more than half a century in the life of the Soviet Union. This exhibit adds a new chapter about religious traditions that were preserved in the conditions of harsh persecution and affected religious tolerance.