Sunday, May 13, 2012

Vanishing Bolsheviks and other manipulated pictures

Last Thursday we saw several manipulated photographs in the USSR during Stalin´s rule. Here you have some other pictures and links: 


Four, three, two, one...





The original picture was taken in Leningrad in 1926 and it showed, Antipov, Stalin, Kirov and Shvernik. Kirov was executed in 1934 and Antipov in 1941. Shvernik survived until 1970, but was erased when Brodsky painted Stalin´s portrait in 1949. 


And these are some links: 

- SOVIET RUSSIAN PHOTO CORRECTION: this is the website we visited last week.


- THE COMISSAR VANISHES: THE FALSIFICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN STALIN´S RUSSIA: interactive exhibition by the News Museum and Loyola University



As we saw the other day, Stalin was not the only one to order the manipulation of photographs. Here you have again the manipulated pictures of Franco and Hitler´s interview in Hendaye (France) in 1940:


On the first picture, Franco with his eyes closed 
On the second one, Franco with his eyes open 




On this picture they stuck the three figures over 

another picture of a train arriving to the station






And here Franco was "made" taller than he was 
and a decoration was added to his uniform. 



Source: http://lafotografiaprohibida.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/%C2%BFquien-es-quien/

Postcript: 

This is a curious piece of news appeared today (11th June) in the newspaper.The General Council of the Judicial Power press service has been erasing the images of a man who works as a bodyguard for Carlos Dívar, the president of the Council. This man is supposedly the one who accompanied him to his "business trips" to Marbella. Stalin´s methods are still alive! Here you have the information: 

2 comments:

Alejandro Torrillas said...

Hello Paqui:
I think this is very interesting. I knew many forms of manipulating people in those times but I never thought that they could do like a Photoshop.
Bye Paqui See you Tomorrow

Paqui Pérez Fons said...

Hello Alejandro,

Power is a big temptation, especially for dictators. They try to control everything. Russian photographers were very good, considering that they "changed" the pictures manually.

Nowadays it´s easier with Photoshop. If you observe the posters for the electoral campaigns, almost all of them have been manipulated to hide wrinkles, spots, warts, white hairs... Even the royal family of Spain used Photoshop for their Christmas postcards some years ago:

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/322076/0/reyes/felicitacion/navidad/

Have a good night.