The Photocor Newspaper (1931–1933): Publication History, Structure and Content

Download paper
Maria A. Romakina

Senior Lecturer at the Chair of Photojournalism and Media Technologies, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

e-mail: romakina@mail.ru

Section: History of Journalism

This article reconstructs the history of the Photocor newspaper, analyzes its structural and content specifics. This unique publication of the early 1930s organized with the participation of the Society “For Proletarian Cinema and Photography” and Soyuzfoto was addressed to a narrow target audience distinguished by professional characteristics, namely to photojournalists. Its circulation fluctuated between 6 000–25 000 copies. In historiography, Photocor has not previously been given due attention, which justifies – regarding the international interest in the photographic culture of the early USSR – the relevance of the study and testifies to its novelty. The newspaper might be referred to the group of special purpose industry publications, and this determined its structural and content features. The author studied 1449 publications from 51 issues (1931–1933) and codified them into 14 thematic groups, analyzing distribution by groups. The following groups proved to be the richest in materials: “The photocor movement in the USSR”, “Activities of individual photographers”, “Development of the photographic industry and photo trade”, which corresponds to the guidelines of the editorial board. More than half of the advertisements are self-advertisements: announcements of publications and the so-called phototrips, calls to subscribe to the newspaper and the Photocor Library book supplement. This, together with a large number of editorial materials about the activities of the Photocor newspaper, testifies to a certain expansiveness of the editorial policy, the desire to struggle for its readers, establish trusting relationships with them, as well as relative transparency of the editorial activities.

Keywords: Photocor, Society “For Proletarian Cinema and Photography”, Soyuzphoto, photoсor movement, mass media, Soviet press, photo agency, photojournalism, 1930s
DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2022.170191

References:

Boltyanskiy G. (1929) Foto-kruzhok za rabotoy / Biblioteka zhurnala Sovetskoe foto. Kn. 27 [A Photo Coterie at Work / Library of the Soviet Photo Magazine. Book 27]. Moscow: Ogonek Publ. (In Russian)

Boltyanskiy G. (1939) Ocherki po istorii fotografii v SSSR [Essays on the History of Photography in the USSR]. Moscow: Goskinoizdat Publ. (In Russian)

Dub A. (1931) Znaete li vy, chto takoe «byustiki» i «rostiki»? Kogo gotovit fotoshkola FZU [Do You Know What “Busts” and “Growths” Are? Whom the FZU Photo School Prepares]. Photocor 10: 2.

Evans E. (2014) Soviet Photo and the Search for the Proletarian Photography, 1926–1937. PhD. Champaign: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Evgenov S., Bunimovich D. (eds.) (1931) Chto dolzhen znat’ kazhdyy fotokor / Biblioteka gazety Photocor [What Every Photocor Should Know / Library of the Photocor Newspaper]. Moscow: ZHURGAZ Publ. (In Russian)

Grebnin N. (1932) Pamyatka fotovoenkoru / Biblioteka fotokora [Memo to the Military Photocor. A Photocor’s Library]. Moscow: ZHURGAZ Publ. (In Russian)

Karasik M. S. (2016) Iskusstvo ubezhdat’. Paradnye izdaniya 1920–1930-kh godov [The Art of Persuasion. Festive Editions of the 1920s–1930s]. Moscow: Kontakt-Kul’tura Publ. (In Russian)

Klutsis G. G. (1932) Fotomontazh kak sredstvo agitatsii i propagandy // Za bol’shevistskiy plakat [Photomontage as a Means of Agitation and Propaganda // For the Bolshevik Poster]. Moscow; Leningrad: OGIZ; IZOGIZ Publ. Pp. 83– 108.

Kratkiy katalog leningradskikh i moskovskikh gazet i zhurnalov na 1933 god [Brief Catalogue of Leningrad and Moscow Newspapers and Magazines for 1933] (1933) Leningrad: Tip. im. Volodarskogo Publ. (In Russian)

Makarov A. N. (2011) Ot zavodskogo stanka k fotokamere: sotsiokul’turnyy portret sovetskogo fotokorrespondenta 1930-kh godov (po materialam Magnitogorska) [From an Industrial Machine to a Photo Camera: a Socio-Cultural Profile of a Soviet Photo Correspondent of the 1930s (a case study of Magnitogorsk)]. In A. Kh. Elert (ed.) Istoricheskiy ezhegodnik: Sb. nauch. tr. [Historical Yearbook: A Collection of Scientific Writings]. Novosibirsk: Parallel’ Publ. Pp. 163–173. (In Russian)

Melot-Henry A. (2012) La photographie sovitique de 1917 1945 [Soviet Photography from 1917 to 1945]. Nanterre: Presses universitaires de Paris-Ouest. (In French)

Mezhericher L. (1931) Sovetskaya fotoinformatsiya na novom etape / Biblioteka zhurnala Sovetskoe foto [Soviet Photo Information at a New Stage / Library of the Magazine Soviet Photo]. Moscow: Ogonek Publ. (In Russian)

Mezhericher L. P., Yashtold-Govorko V. A. (1930) Fotografiya v presse, nauke, tekhnike i khozyaystve [Photography in the Press, Science, Technology and Economy]. Moscow: Teakinopechat’ Publ. (In Russian)

Morozov S. A. (1939) Fotoillyustratsiya v gazete. V pomoshch’ redaktsionnym rabotnikam [Photo Illustrations in the Newspaper. Helping the Editorial Staff]. Moscow: Goskinoizdat Publ. (In Russian)

O fotokorovskom dvizhenii [On the Photo Correspondent Movement] (1933) In Resheniya partii o pechati i rabsel’korovskom dvizhenii: Sbornik [Party Decisions on the Press and the Worker-Peasant Correspondent Movement: a Collection]. Leningrad: Leningradskoe oblastnoe izdatel’stvo Publ. Pp. 73–74. (In Russian)

Sartori R. (2006) Fotokul’tura II, ili “vernoe videnie” [Photographic Culture II, or the “True Vision”]. In Kh. Gyunter, S. Khensgen (eds.) Sovetskaya vlast’ i media: sbornik statey [Soviet Power and Media: a Collection of Articles]. St. Petersburg: Akademicheskiy proekt Publ. Pp. 145–163. (In Russian)

Semenov E. (1932) Mezhdunarodnaya svyaz’ fotokorov / Biblioteka fotokora. Kn. 4 (13) [International Communication of Photo Correspondents / Library of Photocor. Book 4 (13)]. Moscow: ZHURGAZ Publ. (In Russian)

Shitova A. A. (2017) Rabsel’korovskoe dvizhenie, stennye i “zhivye” gazety 1920-kh godov: organizatsiya i motivatsiya deyatel’nosti [Worker-Peasant Correspondent Movement, Wall Newspapers and Scenic Newspapers of the 1920s: Activity Organization and Motivation]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki 11: 204–208. (In Russian)

Stigneev R. (2018) Formirovanie zhanra fotoreportazha v sovetskoy fotografii 1920-kh gg. [Formation of the Photo Report Genre in Soviet Photography of the 1920s]. Khudozhestvennaya kul’tura 2: 168–193. (In Russian)

Svirel’ S. (1931) Kak snimat’ bor’bu za vypolnenie shesti usloviy t. Stalina [How to Shoot the Struggle for the Fulfillment of Comrade Stalin’s Six Enactions]. Photocor 8–9.

Tupitsyn M. (1996) The Soviet Photograph, 1924–1937. New Haven; Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Usov N. (1931) Pokazyvat’ ne statiku, a rost [To Show Not Statics, but Growth]. Photokor 3.

Ustav obshchestva druzey sovetskoy kinematografii i fotografii ODSKF: utverzhden Nar. Komissariatom Vnutr. Del 6 iyulya 1930 g [Charter of the Society of Friends of Soviet Cinematography and Photography ODSKF: Approved by People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs on 6 July 1930] (1931) Rostov-on-Don. (In Russian)

Vostrogin M. (1930) Chto i kak fotografirovat’ rabkoru / Biblioteka zhurnala Sovetskoe foto. Kn. 10 [Worker Correspondent: What and How to Photograph / Library of the Magazine Soviet Photo. Book 10]. Moscow: Ogonek Publ. (In Russian)

Wolf E. (2011) The Soviet Union: From Worker to Proletarian Photography. In The Worker Photography Movement (1926-1939). Essays and Documents. Madrid: TF Editores / Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Pp. 32–46.

Zakovyrina N. (2007) Osobennosti razvitiya sovetskoy fotozhurnalistiki 1920– 1930-kh gg. i zhurnal «Sovetskoe foto»: dis. na soiskanie uchenoy stepeni kandidata filologicheskikh nauk [Development of Soviet Photojournalism in the 1920s–1930s and the Sovetskoye Foto Magazine. PhD philol. sci. diss.] St. Petersburg. (In Russian)



To cite this article: Romakina M.A. (2022) Gazeta «Fotokor» (1931–1933): istoriya izdaniya, struktura, soderzhanie [The Photocor Newspaper (1931–1933): Publication History, Structure and Content]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 3: 170–191. DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2022.170191