Dmitri Kessel (born Dmitri Solomonovich Keselman, russian: Дмитрий Соломонович Кесельман; 20 August 1902 – 26 March 1995) was a photojournalist and staff photographer on Life magazine known for his courageous coverage of war on the front line, including reports on the liberation of Europe and conflict in the Congo.

Early life

Dmitri Kessel was born as Dmitri Kesselman in Kiev to the family of sugar beet farmers and landowners Solomon and Sonja Keselman. He had sisters Franya Solomonovna Keselman (1897–1959), Polya Morman and Manya Sweet. He grew up in the

Podolia Governorate The Podolia Governorate or Podillia Governorate (), set up after the Second Partition of Poland, was a governorate (''gubernia'', ''province'', or ''government'') of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1 ...

of Russia (now Ukraine). As a boy he learned to use a

box camera A box camera is a simple type of camera, the most common form being a cardboard or plastic box with a lens in one end and film at the other. They were sold in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lenses are often singl ...

to snap photos of friends, family and his everyday life. Involved with

Ukrainian People's Party The Ukrainian People's Party ( uk, Українська Народна Партія; ) is a political party in Ukraine, registered on Old Year's Day 1999 as the Ukrainian National Movement ( uk, Український Народний Рух; ).

, he documented a massacre by

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

villagers of pillaging

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

invaders but had his camera destroyed by the leader of the Ukrainian mob. From the age of ten Kessel trained at the Poltava Military Academy in Russia to serve as cavalry officer, and later joined the Red Army campaign against the Poles during the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921) * russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...

(1919–21). On quitting the army, Kessel studied

leather tanning Tanning is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Tanning hide into leather involves a process which permanently alters the protein structure of skin, makin ...

and

industrial chemistry The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The pla ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

1921–22. Whilst bidding his family farewell as they moved to Russia from Ukraine, he was arrested by Polish guards but escaped to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

where he was again detained but released.

Photographic career in America

Kessel emigrated to the US via

in 1923 ( naturalized 1929) to New York City and worked at part-time jobs in the fur industry and for Russian-language newspapers. He attended night classes at City College, then in 1934 attended Ben Magid Rabinovitch's (1884–1964) School of Photography (founded in 1920). His training in photography coincided with rapid changes within the medium itself. Exploiting his industrial experience and contacts, he specialised in photography for factory owners. This led to his being signed on as a freelance for Henry Luce's '' Fortune'' in 1935'','' which secured his success as a photojournalist, with assignments to cover World War 2 from 1939. He became a staffer and war correspondent for Life in 1944, and he remained with the magazine until 1972. In late 1944, he was landed in Athens with the British and the Greek government in exile. Kessel took several photos of the protagonists during the ''

Dekemvriana The ''Dekemvriana'' ( el, Δεκεμβριανά, "December events") refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the c ...

'' events that ended with communist defeat. In the post-war years, Kessel worked mostly for ''Life'' at their Paris bureau, travelling to cover stories on ideological struggles and territorial disputes in Hungary, China, Palestine, India, Spain, Ceylon and Japan. In 1950, assigned to the Aga Khan's wedding, he and journalist Dita Comacho documented growing tension between

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and the Soviet Union, and after extending their stay to six weeks produced an eight-page cover story in Life. From the mid-1950s he photographed Europe's religious architecture, including St Mark's Basilica, St Mark's, in Venice, and the opulent monuments of the Vatican City, Vatican. In 1955 curator Edward Steichen included eight of his images in his world-touring Museum of Modern Art exhibition, seen by 9 million visitors, ''The Family of Man''; a woman voting in France, a couple silhouetted in a doorway in China, a river reflecting a misty sky between rugged mountains in China, a family's summer harvest in Italy, a farmer sowing seeds by hand in China, a mine worker in the Belgian Congo, a large team of men straining to tow a barge upstream on a turbulent river in China, and children dancing in a circle, also in China. The September 22, 1961 issue of ''Life (magazine), Life'' featured a photo essay of JFK Airport (then known as Idlewild Airport) by him. Many of the photos were of the newly built Pan Am Terminal, Worldport (Pan Am), Worldport.

Personal life

In 1964 he married Shirley Farmer. Kessel died in Southampton Township, New Jersey, Southampton, New York 26 March 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kessel, Dmitri 1902 births 1995 deaths American photojournalists Architectural photographers War photographers Ukrainian Jews Federal Art Project artists