Lumiere Brothers Gallery

Founded in 2001, Lumiere Brothers Gallery is one of the oldest photography galleries in Moscow. Specializing in Russian photography of the 20th century, the gallery also works with international artists.

The gallery represents classics of Soviet constructivist photography: Boris Ignatovich, Jakov Khalip, and Mikhail Prekhner, whose innovative techniques – unconventional angles, tilted horizons, stark contrasts of light and shadow – reveal the influence of their teacher and associate Alexander Rodchenko. The gallery has a strong representation of socialist realism by celebrated Soviet reporters such as Mark Markov-Grinberg, Emmanuil Evzerikhin, and Arkadij Shaikhet; architectural photography with its iconic views of cityscapes taken at high vantage points pioneered by the foremost chronicler of Moscow life, Naum Granovsky; reports from the battlefronts by unrivaled war correspondents like Alexander Ustinov and Robert Diament. The gallery has been at the forefront of reintroducing and promoting the work of first class photographers from the 1960s and 1970s, who employed new tools to convey a hopeful mood of the time and document newly emerged Soviet intellectuals. Romualdas Pozerskis represents the Lithuanian school, which stood out against Soviet photography for its distinctive national aesthetic. The gallery's pool of artists encompasses a variety of styles, which flourished in Russian photography during the last three decades. Featuring, amongst others, underground artist of the 1980s Sergey Borisov, conceptualist Vadim Gushchin, and contemporary architectural photographers: admirer of St Petersburg Vladimir Antoshchenkov and Igor Palmin, centered on the formal exploration of modernist and symbolist architecture.

With over fifteen years of experience in the international art market, the gallery has created close working relationships with many of the foremost photographers and archives. Its pool of artists of international standing includes reporters of the golden age of American photojournalism – Ruth Orkin and Steve Schapiro, humanist photographer Sabin Weiss, and conceptualist Arno Rafael Minkkinen. The gallery also presents the work of young contemporary photographers such as Laurent Chehere and Shigeru Yoshida.