Lev Borodulin, famous photographer of Soviet sports

Famous Soviet photographer Lev Borodulin celebrates his 80th anniversary this year. Moscow House of Photography has its works on display till February, 10.

Moscow House of Photography

Coach Vikentiy Dmitriev. 1964 // Lev Borodulin was born in Moscow, in 1923. In 1940 he entered the Art Department of the Moscow Institute of Polygraphy, but went to the front in 1941.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

Water fest. 1959 // After the War Borodulin finished his studies at the Institute of Polygraphy, and became seriously involved with photography.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

Swallow. 1960 // The post-war years were possibly the toughest in the country’s history and in the history of Soviet photography. One of the best photography movements in the world came under the heel of the authorities.

Lev Borodulin / The Lumiere Brothers Photo Gallery

Parade. 1956 // It was exactly at this time that Borodulin decided to dedicate his life to photography. His work was influenced by the classics of Soviet modernism: Alexander Rodchenko, Boris Ignatovich, Arkadiy Shaihet.

Lev Borodulin / The Lumiere Brothers Photo Gallery

Pyramid. 1954 // He turned to sports photography, the only sphere in which there were no ideological rules, and looked to resurrect formalist principles there, reinventing the tradition of the great photography of the 20s and 30s.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

Forward. 1959 // In the fifteen years he spent working for the magazine Ogonyok, Lev Borodulin travelled round the whole world, shooting, shoulder to shoulder with Dmitriy Bartelmanz, Olympics and Word Championships, creating pictures which have become classics of international sports photography.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

We play volleyball. 1965 // In 1964 the English ‘Photography Year Book’ named Borodulin a «Star of World Photography», in 1967 the Japanese magazine Asahi made him photographer of the year, and in 1966 he received a gold medal in Munich.

Lev Borodulin / The Lumiere Brothers Photo Gallery

Fight. 1960s // By the 40’s Borodulin had also begun to collect soviet photography, purposing on photography about World War II.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

Albert Azaryan, an Olympic champion. 1955 // Today Lev Borodulin’s collection is a unique phenomenon. It shows both a history of Russia in photographs as well as a history of the development of Russian photography.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

Three generations. 1976 // In 1972, at the height of his fame, Lev Borodulin left the USSR for Israel.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

In the army. 1975 // Lev Borodulin has worked for 40 years in Israel, and has become one of Israel’s most famous photographers.

Lev Borodulin / Moscow House of Photography

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