Max Alpert (1899-1980) is most famous for his collaboration with Soviet photographers Arkadii Shaikhet and Solomon Tules on the project Twenty-four Hours in the Life of the Filippov Family. Together they produced a photographic sequence of a worker and his family which attracted considerable attention in the West. The photographic essay demonstrated the relatively secure existence of Soviet workers compared to the lifestyle of workers in capitalist countries during the Depression of the early 1930’s. Alpert was born in Simferopol in 1899, but settled in Odessa before enlisting in the Red Army. After serving in the army, Alpert began his career as a photojournalist in Moscow for Rabochaia Gazeta (Worker’s Gazette) and Pravda. In 1931, Alpert began working for the publication USSR in Construction.

Among his many notable contributions to the journal were a series of photographs of a hydro-electric plant on the Dnepr, which El Lissitzky selected for a special issue, and a series on the construction of the Fergana Canal. In addition to his work for USSR in Construction, Alpert is noted for his sequence of images Giant and Builder which chronicled the career of Viktor Kalmykov, an illiterate mason who became an expert constructor at the Magnitogorsk steel foundry. Alpert was to return over the years to continue his study of the town and its development. During World War II, Alpert worked as a correspondent of the Tass new agency and his post-war years were spent as a reporter for the Novosti press.

The work of Max Alpert is featured in these exhibitions.

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Politics and the Utopian Dream

Variations on a Theme

The work of Max Alpert is featured in these Theme Collections.

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Historical

Soviet