Lev Borodulin. The history of a formalist

The history

of a formalist

Author: Andrew Kovalev

Lev Borodulin is a formalist. He got this definition from Michael Suslov, the Communist ideology leader who did not like Borodulin's photos of the Soviet sportsmen.

Now Borodulin lives in Israel, and his photos that had been criticized by Suslov are sold at Sotheby's, Christie's and Swann, the special photo auction. One of the photos ("The Parade of Sport") was selected by Bill Clinton, the former President of the USA, for his office in the White House.

As we see, the opinion of one of the Communist leaders could predict the future.

One can hardly read the Soviet Ogonyok's texts because of many articles about "fight" for harvest, chemical industry, and success of Soviet builders and so on… But its photo galleries always impressed the public. Even the compositions made of corn are considered to be works of art. If you look at the pictures in "Ogonyok", you may think that the life in former Soviet Union was better than now.

Borodulin, the photographer of "Ogonyok", was one of those who created such a brilliant image.

At the peak of his professional career he suddenly left the country of developed socialism and repatriated to Israel where he had to "start from zero". However, today old his photos for "Ogonyok" are estimates highly.

In 1950-1960s photography has not yet been defined as a type of art. A photographer worked as some kind of technician. Borodulin was among the enthusiasts who have raised the status of photography up to the level of art.

Alexander Rodchenko was a man who declared that photography is "the main kind of art". From that master Borodulin adopted his clear images and diagonal photo compositions. At that time he began to compile the photo collection including now a lot of rarities. Then those photos were tools of ideology; Borodulin was the first who understood that they are also valuable items. Borodulin's teacher, Dmitry Baltermanz who worked as a chief photo editor in "Ogonyok" magazine also thought that the photo art has great future.

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