Vintage
Khalip, Yakov Nikolayevich (1908, Petersburg —1980,???), an outstanding master of Soviet photography, well-known photographer, photo artist, heir of Russian avant-garde art in photography.
A Cinematography Institute (VGIK) graduate (cameraman), Khalip had worked as a cameraman assistant and photographer until 1931. He studied photography under A.M. Rodchenko, A.S. Shaikhet, S.O. Friedland and M.V. Alpert to become a master of genre photo story and documentary reporting.
His style can be described as an expression of the spirit of his epoch in photography. He took his first professional photograph at Lenin’s burial in 1924 and his photographs were first published in 1926. Khalip gained recognition in the 1930s, when his prewar photographs celebrating military servicemen, sailors and construction projects in different parts of the country became widely known. His better known photographs of that period — Torpedoman, On Patrol, Keeping Guard and Dirigibles over Moscow — are distinctively dynamic compositions, some of them arranged diagonally. Their special Constructivist style is ascribed to the influence of Alexander Rodchenko, with whom Khalip cooperated in the SSSR na Stroike magazine. In 1938 Khalip took part in I.D. Papanin’s expedition to the North Pole. Pictures of Ivan Papanin and his three associates at the drifting North Pole – 1 station became unique documents of Soviet history.
In 1938-1941 Khalip was the leading photo reporter for the SSSR na Stroike magazine and executive editor of the Soviet Photo magazine.
In 1941-1945 he served as a Krasnaya Zvezda daily and Sovinformburo correspondent.
In 1946-1954 he contributed to the Ogonyok and Smena magazines and from 1954 on to the Sovetsky Soyuz (Soviet Union) magazine and collaborated with the Pravda and Izvestia dailies.
The postwar period brought new images, while the Thaw period opened the door for greater freedom of self-expression and some fascinating themes. Khalip had a chance to travel when working for the Sovetsky Soyuz magazine, and that was a period of romantic photographs, which keenly conveyed his here-and-now mood and his admiration for a beautiful landscape, story or image.
In the 1950s through the 1970s Khalip produced a large series of photographs on postwar rehabilitation efforts, scientists and cultural figures and the life of different nations.
Yakov Khalip was the first photo reporter to be awarded the Order of Honor.
He left behind a unique archive of negatives and photographs. His works can now be found in numerous museum and photo gallery collections and at international auctions.