Masha Ivashintsova (March 23, 1942 − July 13, 2000) was a Russian photographer from
Saint-Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(then
Leningrad, USSR) who was heavily engaged in the Leningrad poetic and photography
underground movement
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...
of the 1960−80s.
Masha photographed prolifically throughout most of her life, but she hoarded her photo-films in the attic and rarely developed them. Only when her daughter Asya found some 30,000 negatives in their attic in 2017 did Masha's works become public. In this regard, Masha Ivashintsova's work and story have been compared to those of
Vivian Maier
Vivian Dorothy Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) was an American street photographer whose work was discovered and recognized after her death. She worked for about 40 years as a nanny, mostly in Chicago's North Shore, while pursuing ...
.
Ivashintsova died in 2000 at the age of 58.
Personal life
Masha was born into an aristocratic family whose assets were seized following the Bolshevik Revolution.
In Leningrad, Ivashintsova joined the city's literary and artistic underground. She worked odd jobs as a theater critic, a librarian, a cloakroom attendant, an elevator mechanic, and a security guard, amongst others. Occasionally, she would visit Asya in Moscow.
Masha was heavily engaged in the Leningrad poetic and photography of the 1960−80s. She was in relationships with photographer
Boris Smelov, poet
Viktor Krivulin and linguist
Melvar Melkumyan., the latter whom she married and had a daughter, Asya Melkumyan.
Exhibitions
* ''Masha Ivashintsova, Street Photographer'' (2018),
International Center of Photography,
New York City, USA
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...
* ''Brought to Light'' (2019), Vintage Photo Festival,
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
,
Poland, curated by Katarzyna Gębarowska and Masha Galleries.
* ''Chiaroscuro'' (2019-2020), Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre,
Tallinn,
Estonia
See also
*
Vivian Maier
Vivian Dorothy Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) was an American street photographer whose work was discovered and recognized after her death. She worked for about 40 years as a nanny, mostly in Chicago's North Shore, while pursuing ...
References
Links and sources
Masha Ivashintsova official web siteInterview: Woman Discovers Over 30,000 Secret Photos Left Behind by Her Mother // My Modern Met
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Photographers from Saint Petersburg
20th-century photographers
Russian women photographers
20th-century Russian women artists
1942 births
2000 deaths
20th-century women photographers