Semyon Fridlyand

About the Artist

Unknown photographer. Semyon Fridlyand at the “Afrika” Resort. c. late 1940s. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the Dalbey Photographic Collection at the University of Denver

Semyon Fridlyand was born into a working-class family on August 28, 1905, in Kiev, Ukraine. He moved to Moscow in 1925, where he lived until his death on February 14, 1964. In 1925 he began working at Ogonek (The flame), one of the many illustrated magazines owned by his cousin Mikhail Koltsov; in 1932 he was appointed the head of its photography department. Throughout the late 1920s and 1930s, Fridlyand made his primary living working as a photojournalist not only for Ogonek and the newspaper Pravda, but also for the Soviet agency Soiuzfoto; yet it was not until 1930 that he received a formal education in the arts at the State Institute of Cinematography. He published his photographs often in Sovetskoe foto, Novyi lef, and USSR in Construction, three of the most important journals for photography in the Soviet Union, and his works were included in the exhibition Ten Years of Soviet Photography, 1928, and in Film und Foto, 1929, the most influential international exhibition of photography in that era.

—Ksenia Nouril
Alternate Name(s) Semyon Osipovich Fridlyand (Birth Name)
Семён Фридлянд (Alternate Name)

Meeting Points

Cultural Hubs Moscow
Exhibitions Film und Foto, 1929
Ten Years of Soviet Photography, 1928
Publications Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, 1917–31
Sovetskoe foto, 1926–39
Novyi lef, 1927–28
Foto-Auge, 1929

Artist Chronology

August 28, 1905	Born At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Kiev
1925–64	Lives in Moscow At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1925–30	Works in the darkroom of Ogoniok At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1926	First publication of his photographs Contributor: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1927	Publishes in Sovetskoe Foto no. 11 Contributor: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1928	Ten Years of Soviet Photography at the State Academy of Artistic Sciences Exhibition was also mounted in St. Petersburg Participant: Aleksandr Rodchenko, Semyon Fridlyand, Roman Karmen	Moscow
1928	Publishes in Novy Lef no. 6:45 Contributor: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1929	Franz Roh publishes Foto-Auge: 76 Fotos der Zeit Contributor: Herbert Bayer, Max Burchartz, Florence Henri, El Lissitzky, Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), László Moholy-Nagy, Walter A. Peterhans, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Maurice Tabard, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Edward Weston, Franz Roh, Semyon Fridlyand, Robert Petschow, Sasha Stone, Dziga Vertov, Hans Finsler, Paul Edmund Hahn, J. Jay Hirz	Stuttgart
May 18–July 7, 1929	Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto (FiFo) at Städtische Ausstellungshallen Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich August 28–September 22, 1929 Im Lichthof des Ehemaligen Kunstgewerbemuseums, Prinz-Albrechs-Strasse 7, Berlin October 19–November 17, 1929 Stadtmuseum, Danzig (dates unknown) Österreichisches Museum, Vienna February 20–March 31, 1930 Agram, Zagreb April 5–14, 1930 Münchner Bund/Verein Ausstellungspark München E.V. (as part of Internationale Ausstellung. Das Lichtbild), Munich June 5–September 7, 1930 Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo April 1931 Asahi Shimbun, Osaka July 1–7, 1931 Participant: Berenice Abbott, Herbert Bayer, Aenne Biermann, Anton Bruehl, Francis Bruguière, Max Burchartz, Florence Henri, André Kertész, Germaine Krull, Helmar Lerski, El Lissitzky, Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), László Moholy-Nagy, Walter A. Peterhans, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Hans Richter, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Charles Sheeler, Edward Steichen, Maurice Tabard, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Edward Weston, Lucia Moholy, Werner Rohde, George Hoyningen-Huene, Gustav Klutsis, Karl Blossfeldt, Heinz Loew, Erich Comeriner, Semyon Fridlyand, Roman Karmen, Eli Lotar, Oskar Nerlinger, Robert Petschow, Sasha Stone, Dziga Vertov, Yva (Else Simon), Willy Zielke, Irene Bayer-Hecht, Hans Finsler, Cami Stone Organizer: El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, Hans Richter, Edward Steichen, Edward Weston, Dziga Vertov Visitor: Alexander Hackenschmied	Stuttgart
1930–41	El Lissitzky, Seymon Fridlyand, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and Roman Karmen contribute to the periodical USSR in Construction Contributor: El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Semyon Fridlyand, Roman Karmen	Moscow
1930–32	Works as a photojournalist for the agency Unionfoto (later called Sojuzfoto) At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1930–32	Studies at the State Institute of Cinematography At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1932	Named head of the photographic department at Ogoniok At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
Beginning in 1933	Publishes regularly in Pravda Contributor: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1935	Named director of the Moscow Association of Photo-Reporters At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1939	Publishes an article on color photography in Sovetskoe Foto Contributor: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
1941–45	Works as a war correspondent At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow
February 14, 1964	Dies At location: Semyon Fridlyand	Moscow