Accession Number
2012/2.91

Title
On Holiday: Young Soldier Feeds the Pigeons, Red Square, Moscow

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1947

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
11 in x 14 in (27.94 cm x 35.56 cm)

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

Subject matter
In this photograph, a young soldier of the Red Army pauses and crouches down to feed a flock of pigeons on Moscow’s Red Square. A line of civilians along with a few other soldiers file behind him; their exact purpose or destination is ambiguous. Other men and women have also paused to toss food at their avian compatriots in a relatively light-hearted scene of everyday life. The imposing, crenelated wall of the Kremlin—the physical and conceptual locus of Soviet authority—provides the backdrop. The composition of the photograph is organized into three distinct registers: birds and stone pavement fill the foreground; human figures form a horizontal band across the middle; and the Kremlin walls and a spattering of coniferous trees take up the top third.   

Physical Description
A young soldier crouches down amid a crowd of people to feed a large flock of pigeons. 

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
pigeons (general term)
soldiers
squares (open spaces)