The Russians

THE RUSSIANS November 19, 2017 to April 29, 2018 All works belong to The Wende Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permanent Acollection, unless noted.

WENDE

MUSEUM O F T H E C O L D WA R

THE RUSSIANS

November 19, 2017 – April 29, 2018 “I felt I was doing something that could possibly help reduce the fear between Russia and the United States,” American photographer Nathan Farb (b. 1941) explained about his series The Russians. Farb traveled to the Soviet Union in 1977 as a host of the American exhibition Photography USA in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. The exhibition was part of a cultural exchange program during the Carter administration, under the auspices of the United States Information Agency (USIA). Farb photographed about 500 visitors to this exhibition. He used a traditional studio view camera that accepted Polaroid film and occasionally a smaller Polaroid camera, and gave the visitors the resulting photo. However, unknown to his subjects and to the Soviet authorities, Farb kept a negative of each Polaroid. Subsequently, he managed to smuggle the negatives out of the country with a diplomatic pouch at the U.S. Embassy. With this series, Farb gave to Western audiences the Cold War enemy a human face.

All works are on loan from the artist.

1

Nathan Farb, Teenage Girl, 1977

Nathan Farb, Mother and Daughter, 1977

Nathan Farb, A Young Artist, 1977

Nathan Farb, A Worker, 1977

2

Nathan Farb, Boy with Trench Coat and Sunglasses, 1977

Nathan Farb, Father and Son with Beret,1977

Nathan Farb, Woman Laughing, with Steel Teeth, 1977

Nathan Farb, Georgiana, 1977

3

Nathan Farb, Woman with Scandinavian Features,, 1977

Nathan Farb, Man with Thirty Years Railroad Service, and Niece, 1977

Nathan Farb, A Couple 1977

Nathan Farb, Politicians and the Party Chiefs 1977

4

Nathan Farb, A Young Sailor, 1977

Nathan Farb, Woman with Hat,1977

Nathan Farb, Girl with Miniskirt, 1977

Nathan Farb, Boys from a Rail Workers School, 1977

5

Nathan Farb, Tired and Depressed Mother, 1977

Nathan Farb, Grandmother and Granddaughter,1977

Nathan Farb, Young Woman with Bleached Hair and Sunglasses, 1977

Nathan Farb, Young Mother and Daughter, 1977

6

The Russians was organized by Chief Curator Joes Segal and Curatorial Associate Amanda Roth, with support from Jessica Hoffmann and Christine Rank. Special thanks to Nathan Farb for his kind loans.

WENDE MUSEUM O F T H E C O L D WA R

10808 Culver Boulevard | Culver City, CA | 90230 www.wendemuseum.org 310.216.1600

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The Russians

Published on Nov 18, 2017

Wende Museum

Photography exhibition by Nathan Farb, based on a trip he took in 1977 to Novosibirsk as a host of the American exhibition Photography USA, part of a cultural exchange program under President Carter’s administration. Farb photographed a number of visitors to this exhibition. He used a Polaroid camera and gave them the resulting photo. However, unknown to his subjects and to the Soviet authorities, Farb kept a negative of each Polaroid. He managed to smuggle the negatives out of the country with a diplomatic pouch at the US Embassy. The portraits show a diversity of people. Some are dressed according to Western trends of the late 1970s; others are wearing more traditional clothing. In this series, Farb gave the Cold War enemy a human face.