Dmitri Baltermants (; 13 May 1912 – 11 June 1990) was a prominent

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

Early life

Baltermants was born on 13 May 1912 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, then in

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. His father served in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

and was killed in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Baltermants graduated from the

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

Career

Baltermants planned to become a

math Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

in a Military Academy, but he fell in love with

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

and began a career in the field of

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

in 1939. Apprenticed to Vladimir Musinov, he became an official

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

photographer, worked for the daily ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

'' and was picture editor of the popular magazine ''

Ogonyok ''Ogoniok'' ( rus, Огонёк, Ogonyok, t=Spark, p=ɐɡɐˈnʲɵk, a=Ru-огонёк.ogg; pre-reform orthography: Огонекъ) was one of the oldest weekly illustrated magazines in Russia. History and profile ''Ogoniok'' was first issue ...

''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Baltermants covered the

battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

, and the battles of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. He was twice wounded. Just like his fellow photographers covering the Red Army during the war, Baltermants' images were

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

by Soviet authorities because of irritating perspectives or works that otherwise weren't likely to boost morale. Some of his most captivating photos were suppressed, and became public much later, in the 1960s. His work gained attention in the West where it was distributed by the Sovfoto agency.

''Grief''

One of the more famous Baltermants images, titled "Grief", depicts a 1942

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

massacre of Jews in the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

n city of

Kerch Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...

.Shneer, David. "Through Soviet Jewish Eyes. Photography, War, and the Holocaust". ''Rutgers University Press'', New Brunswick, New Jersey and London, 2011, page 100-103. It shows the despair of village women as they search for the bodies of their loved ones. A powerful oversaturated sky above, burnt in during the printing of the photo, makes the image even more dramatic.

Use in popular culture

''Grief'' appeared (cropped and uncredited) on the cover of the album '' No Sanctuary'' by British crust punk band

Amebix Amebix were an English punk rock band from Tavistock, Devon. A pioneer of the crust punk genre, Amebix's merger of anarcho-punk and post-punk with elements of heavy metal music, heavy metal, particularly early extreme metal, inspired musicians ...

, released in November 1983, and on the cover of a second pressing of the Japanese heavy metal band

Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitari ...

album, ''

The Marrow of a Bone ''The Marrow of a Bone'' (stylized as ''THE MARROW OF A BONE'') is the sixth studio album by Japanese heavy metal band Dir En Grey and the first to use an all caps capitalization. It was released on February 7, 2007, in Japan, and in the United S ...

''.

Death

Baltermants died on June 11, 1990.

Exhibitions

*2004, ''Dmitri Baltermants. Images of The Soviet Union'', Hatton Gallery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA *2005, ''Dmitry Baltermants

Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (MAMM; , Москва) is a Russian state museum dedicated to the presentation and development of contemporary art related to new multimedia technologies. The museum was opened in October 2010 on the grounds of ...

*2012, ''Retrospective

Representative works

At the

Utah Museum of Fine Arts The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is a state and university art museum located in downtown Salt Lake City on the University of Utah campus. Housed in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building near Rice-Eccles Stadium, the museum holds a permane ...

: *Soviet athletes at the International Peace Festival 2003 photograph Currently not on exhibition UMFA2014.20.28 *Inside the canning factory no date printed 2003, 1912-1990 gelatin silver print Currently not on exhibition UMFA2010.20.15 *Two women gossiping, Cuba 21st Century photograph Currently not on exhibition UMFA2013.11.7 *Pacific fisherman with his nets 1960s, 2003 gelatin silver print Currently not on exhibition UMFA2012.12.24 *Building the Komsomolskaya Blast Furnace, Zhdanov City no date printed 2003, 1912-1990 gelatin silver print Currently not on exhibition UMFA2010.20.19 *Bomber commander V. Kovalik and his men 2003 photograph Currently not on exhibition UMFA2014.20.18 *Agricultural workers no date printed 2003, 1912-1990 gelatin silver print Currently not on exhibition UMFA2010.20.18 *

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

inaugurates a statute, early 1960s 1962 printed 2003, 1912-1990 gelatin silver print Currently not on exhibition UMFA2010.20.35 *Khrushchev seated with the Communist Party Central Committee, including

Mikoyan Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Begovoy District, Moscow. Mikoyan was the successor to the Soviet Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (Ми� ...

Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982 as well as the fourth chairman of the Presidium ...

, Suslov, Gromyko and Furtseva (diptych, part two) 2003 photograph Currently not on exhibition UMFA2014.20.30B

References

External links

Baltermants's famous photo "Grief"Other photographs taken by Dmitri BaltermantsMore photographs taken by Dmitri BaltermantsCollection: "Dmirtri Baltermants Photographs from WWII"
from the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) is one of the largest university art museums in the United States, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with . Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alu ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltermants, Dmitri 1912 births 1990 deaths Burials at Vostryakovskoye Cemetery War photographers Soviet photographers Moscow State University alumni Writers from Warsaw Soviet photojournalists