The 1930s USSR Through the Eyes of Margaret Bourke-White, an American Photographer (21 photos)

Margaret Bourke-White was the first to show Americans ordinary Soviet people, factories, and landscapes. She also visited Stalin's birthplace and took rare portraits of his relatives.





The legendary photographer, Margaret Bourke-White, was the first American to visit the USSR in the 1930s. She revealed to the West not only large industrial sites but also images of everyday life, landscapes, and people. Ultimately, she created a rich and vibrant portrait of the early USSR.



Children's hospital in Moscow. Waiting in line

Margaret's first stop, of course, was Moscow, the capital of the Soviet state. She photographed the lives of the Bolsheviks and also took a peek behind the scenes at the Bolshoi Theater.

Children of Bolsheviks in a crèche. AMO Automobile Plant (Moscow Automobile Society, future ZIL)



Tram conductor in Moscow



At the Circus



Moscow Ballet School



Marina Semenova — prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater

The photographer also became interested in rural life, and she shot a series of colorful images from the Soviet hinterland.



Soviet Serenade



Village School



Women Lunch



Ukrainian Steppe

The photographer also visited Stalin's birthplace, Georgia, and took unique portraits of his grandmother and mother.



Mtskheta — the ancient capital of Georgia



Ekaterina Dzhugashvili — Joseph Stalin's mother



Joseph Stalin's great-aunt

The photographer also went to the factories and saw construction She also visited the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station and captured incredible images of Soviet industrialization in the Urals. Factories, construction sites, and heartfelt portraits of workers later brought Margaret great fame in the United States.



At the Edge of Asia. Magnitnaya Station



Blast furnace construction at the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works in the Urals



Metalworker plant



Shock Leader



Comrade Mikhail, Siberian bricklayer



Stalingrad (now Volgograd) Tractor Plant



Hugh Cooper is an American engineer and chief consultant on the construction of Dneprostroy.