The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography

Moscow has over one hundred modern art galleries, including the Lumiere Brothers Centre for PhotographyRussian: Tsentr fotografii imeni bratev Lyumer or Центр фотографии имени братьев Люмьер, which occupies the premises of a former candy store on Bersenevskaya EmbankmentRussian: Bersenevskaya naberezhnaya or Берсеневская набережная, now the creative venue, The Red OctoberRussian: Krasnyi Oktyabr or Красный Октябрь. The Lumiere brothers Centre for Photography is recognised in Moscow for its organization of fantastic photography exhibitions. What to see in Moscow?

The Lumiere Brothers Centre for Photography has been here since 2010. It was established through the efforts of Natalia Grigorieva and Eduard Litvinsky, the owners of Russia’s first private Lumiere Brothers Photo gallery at the Central House of Artists.

Territory of the Red October

The first factory facilities were built in 1889 on the west side of Bolotny IslandRussian: Bolotnyi ostrov or Болотный остров in the very heart of Moscow. The Red October area has since been rightly considered one of the most scenic vantage points to observe the eclectic panorama of the banks of the Moskva RiveRussian: Moskva-reka or Москва-рекаr. Coming from the north, you can get to the Patriarshy BridgeRussian: Patriarshiy most or Патриарший мост and further on to Moscow’s main church, the Cathedral of Christ the SaviourRussian: khram Khrista Spasitelya or храм Христа Спасителя, which boasts a great view of the Kremlin, particularly at night. The west of the island is dominated by the gigantic 98-metre-tall statue of Peter the Greatruled from 1682 until 1725 by Zurab Tseretelia Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect known for large-scale and at times controversial monuments, and, on the opposite side, the Krymskaya EmbankmentRussian: Krymskaya naberezhnaya or Крымская набережная is home to the Tretyakov GalleryRussian: Gosudarstvennaya Tretyakovskaya galereya or Государственная Третьяковская галерея’s modern art collection and to the Central House of ArtistsRussian: Tsentralnyi dom khudozhnika or Центральный дом художника. The Red October itself deserves special attention as it has become, particularly over the last five years, the heart of the bohemian crowd as well as the business community of Russia’s capital.

World of cinema and photography

The French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumiere, became famous as the inventors of the cinematograph and the founding fathers of the movie industry. The Lumiere Brothers Centre for Photography was also, in a sense, a pioneer of the photography scene as it showcased the best Russian and international photographical works at exhibitions held bimonthly. The Centre provides opportunities for innovative large-scale experimental projects carried out in its three exhibition halls with a total area of 1000 m², which allows the Centre to simultaneously display over 400 photographs. It hosts exhibitions of masters of Soviet photography such as Naum Granovsky and Vladimir Lagrange, and retrospective exhibitions of the renowned American and European titans of photojournalism Ruth Orkin and Sabine Weiss. The Lumiere Brothers Centre for Photography takes on controversial projects, whether by touching on a sensitive political issue (as with the project Somewhere Between War and Peace by the British photographer and photojournalist James Hill) or displaying masterpieces by one of the biggest masters of the 20^th century colour photography, Elliott Erwitt. In the exhibition halls of the Photography Centre, visitors will find the modern art of Wynn Bullock and the surreal fantasy photos of Laurent Chehere, bear witness to worlds falling apart in works by Svyatoslav Ponomarev and view images captured by Shigeru Yoshida during his Peaceful Journey, and much more.

Exhibition and infrastruction of the centre

The current exhibition, The White HallRussian: Belyi zal or Белый зал, is also running an educational exhibit entitled White BalanceRussian: Balans Belogo or Баланс Белого (a pun alluding to Red October), which includes a series of concerts, poetry evenings and creative meetings aimed at merging photography, music and poetry. One of the hallmarks of the Photography Centre being functional versatility, its White Hall can easily be transformed into a concert stage, an auditorium or a venue for presentations, all of which aid the visitors in learning about the subtleties of different art forms. Launched in 2013 and operating to this day is an educational programme called PhotoSredaRussian: PhotoСреда, which gives visitors the opportunity to meet exhibition authors, art experts and photographers at a series of seminars, workshops and lectures as well as to find out about the latest trends in photography.

Alongside its exhibition and educational endeavours, The Lumiere Brothers Centre for Photography runs its own publishing projects, publishing detailed illustrated books on visual arts (Icons of the 1990sRussian: Ikony 1990-kh or Иконы 1990-х, Soviet Era of Markov-GrinbergRussian: Sovetskaya epokha Markova-Grinberga or Советская эпоха Маркова-Гринберга, The Age of Little BellsRussian: Vremya kolokolchikov or Время колокольчиков). These and other books on the art and history of photography, postcards, photo posters and magazines are on sale at the PhotoBookPoster bookshop located on the Centre’s premises. You can sit, have a cup of coffee and leaf through a book before buying it, in the open library and café featuring out-of-print photo albums, magazine archives and rare editions of books on photography published in the last 80 years.