Accession Number
2012/2.70

Title
Gunner Loading Ammunition

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1941-1945

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
16 in x 20 in (40.64 cm x 50.8 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Agah, Class of 1989 (BBA)

Subject matter
In this photograph, a young Soviet soldiers sorts attentively through rounds of ammunition before he loads them into a fighter plane. The figure is anonymous, though his prominent position on the left-hand side of the composition renders him almost monumental. The setting remains ambiguous in the image, as the background is a flat, grassy field sliced at the top by a clear sky. This image forms part of Baltermants’s larger project (as an official photographer to the Kremlin) which, spread across numerous portfolios, aimed to document scenes from the Soviet Union’s fight against Nazi Germany during World War II (1939-1945), known in the USSR as the Great Patriotic War.

Physical Description
A soldier loads rounds of ammunition into an aircraft.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
ammunition
gelatin silver prints
journalistic photography
military aircraft
soldiers
war photography