Lot 53: GRACHEV, MIKHAIL (1916-2009) Children's Railway Built by Schoolchildren

GRACHEV, MIKHAIL (1916-2009)
Children's Railway Built by Schoolchildren, stamped twice with the photographer's stamp and titled in Cyrillic on the reverse.
Gelatin silver print, 26 by 39 cm.
Photographed and printed c. 1940s.

Provenance: Private collection, Europe.

A prominent Soviet photographer, Mikhail Grachev (1916–2009) started his career working for the daily Izvestia in 1936. He took pictures of the major Soviet construction sites, including the construction of the Great Fergana Canal. During World War II, he led the photo department of Izvestia and worked as a photo correspondent for Vechernyaya Moskva. He was deployed to the Kalinin and Western Fronts, and worked in Leningrad during the siege. During the Battle of Moscow in 1941–1942, he photographed the offensives for Volokolamsk and Tula. From 1949, he worked for the magazine Sovetsky Soyuz.