Accession Number
2013/2.324

Title
Sharpshooter in the Schoolhouse, Germany

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1945; printed 2003

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

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

Credit Line
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

Subject matter
In the foreground of this photograph, the dead body of an anonymous soldier cuts diagonally across the floor of an abandoned schoolroom. Pale light pours in through an open window on the right-hand side. A drawing of two chimpanzees decorates the back wall, an oddly jovial element in a scene that is largely about death. This image forms part of Baltermants’ 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 dead body sprawls across a straw-covered floor in an empty room while light pours in from the open window on the right-hand side of the photograph.

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
armies
battles
dead (people)
fighting
photojournalism (discipline)
schoolhouses
soldiers
war photography
wars