About the Artist
Explore life events-
Roman Karmen was born Roman Kornman on November 16, 1906, in Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea in present-day Ukraine. Shortly after moving to Moscow, in 1923, Karmen developed his hobby of photography into a profession. He became a member of the Russian Organization of Proletariat Photographers, and his photographs were widely published in newspapers and illustrated magazines, including USSR in Construction, Ogoniok, and Sovetskoe foto. In 1928 his work was included in the exhibition Ten Years of Soviet Photography, in Moscow, along with that of Aleksandr Rodchenko, Semyon Fridlyand, and Max Penson. He enrolled in the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, Moscow, in 1929. Throughout the 1930s, Karmen worked at the Central Studio of Documentary Film and as a correspondent for Soviet newspapers, including Pravda and Izvestii. He participated in the exhibition Film und Foto, mounted in Stuttgart in 1929, as well as the Exposition internationale de la photographie contemporaine (International exhibition of contemporary photography), at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, in 1936. During World War II, Karmen was present on the front lines, documenting the Leningrad blockade, the surrender of German field marshal Friedrich Paulus in Volgograd, and the liberation of the Majdanek concentration camp in Lublin. The Soviet Union awarded Karmen the Lenin Prize, the highest Soviet honor, for his 1953 film Story of the Caspian Oil Workers. Karmen died on April 28, 1978, in Moscow.
—Ksenia Nouril
- Alternate Name(s) Roman Lazarevich Karmen (Birth Name) Роман Кармен (Alternate Name)
Meeting Points
- Cultural Hubs Moscow
- Photo Industry Hubs Moscow
- Exhibitions Film und Foto, 1929 Ten Years of Soviet Photography, 1928
- Publications Sovetskoe foto, 1926–39 Novyi lef, 1927–28
Artist Chronology
November 16, 1906 |
Born
At location: Roman Karmen
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Odessa |
1923–78 |
Lives in Moscow
At location: Roman Karmen
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Moscow |
1923 |
Becomes a member of the Russian Organization of Proletariat Photographers
At location: Roman Karmen
|
Moscow |
1923–30 |
Publishes photographs regularly in Ogoniok
Contributor: Roman Karmen
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Moscow |
1928 |
Ten Years of Soviet Photography at the State Academy of Artistic Sciences
Exhibition was also mounted in St. Petersburg
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Moscow |
May 18–July 7, 1929 |
Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto (FiFo) at Städtische Ausstellungshallen
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich Im Lichthof des Ehemaligen Kunstgewerbemuseums, Prinz-Albrechs-Strasse 7, Berlin Stadtmuseum, Danzig Österreichisches Museum, Vienna Agram, Zagreb Münchner Bund/Verein Ausstellungspark München E.V. (as part of Internationale Ausstellung. Das Lichtbild), Munich Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, Osaka
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
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Stuttgart |
1929–32 |
Studies at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
At location: Roman Karmen
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Moscow |
1930–41 |
El Lissitzky, Seymon Fridlyand, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and Roman Karmen contribute to the periodical USSR in Construction
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Moscow |
1930 |
Begins working at the Central Studio of Documentary Film
At location: Roman Karmen
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Moscow |
1936 |
Begins working as a correspondent for several Soviet newspapers, including Pravda and Izvestii
Contributor: Roman Karmen
|
Moscow |
1936–37 |
Shoots Spain, a documentary about the Spanish Civil War
At location: Roman Karmen
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Spain |
1938–41 |
Shoots documentary footage about the Soviet Republic in China
At location: Roman Karmen
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Beijing |
Winter 1941 |
Shoots documentary footage during the Leningrad blockade
At location: Roman Karmen
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Saint Petersburg |
January 1943 |
Documents Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus's surrender at the Battle of Stalingrad
At location: Roman Karmen
|
Volgograd |
July 1944 |
Shoots documentary footage of the liberation of Majdanek concentration camp
At location: Roman Karmen
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Lublin |
November and December 1945 |
Shoots Judgment of the Peoples, a film about the Nuremberg trials
At location: Roman Karmen
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Nuremberg |
1953 |
Awarded the Lenin Prize, the Soviet Union's highest distinction, for his film Story of the Caspian Oil Workers
At location: Roman Karmen
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Moscow |
April 28, 1978 |
Dies
At location: Roman Karmen
|
Moscow |