High-angle architectural Photography has a long tradition in the history of photography. As Davide Deriu claimed, at the beginning of the 21st century, Moscow, with the tallest buildings in Europe, once again witnessed the revival of photographic practice with the roof as a viewing platform [1]. This paper aims to study how the collective impression of Moscow is shaped by introducing the most important pioneers in the history of high-angle architectural photography in Moscow and studying the interaction between Moscow and photographers, photography and architecture.

Changying Li. Shaping Moscow from Above: Pioneers of High-Angle Architectural Photography. Frontiers in Art Research (2025), Vol. 7, Issue 8: 79-86. https://doi.org/10.25236/FAR.2025.070812.

[1] Davide Deriu. “Do not Look down!: A Short History of Rooftopping Photography.” The Journal of Architecture, Vol. 21, No. 7, pp. 1033–1061, 2016.

[2] Can Propaganda Be Great Art?, [online] Available: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130703-can-propaganda-be-great-art

[3] John Milner. “Rodchenko, Aleksandr.” Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, [online] Available: https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T072572

[4] РОДЧЕНКО Александр Михайлович, [online] Available: https://rusavangard.ru/online/biographies/rodchenko-aleksandr-mikhaylovich/

[5] E. Lissitzky, “The Conquest of Art,” Ringen, no. 109, pp. 32–34, 1922.

[6] MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | 1998 | Rodchenko | The Death of Painting, [online] Available:https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1998/rodchenko/texts/death_of_painting.html

[7] Selim O. Khan-Magomedov. Rodchenko: The Complete Work. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 215-224, 1986.

[8] Alexander Rodchenko. “Downright Ignorance or a Mean Trick?” In Photography in the Modern Era: European Documents and Critical Writings, 1913–1940, ed. Christopher Phillips. New York: Aperture, p.246, 1989.

[9] Aleksandr Rodchenko, Untitled. 1926–27 | MoMA, [online] Available: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/55287

[10] Aleksandr Rodchenko. Columns of the Museum of the Revolution. 1926 | MoMA, [online] Available: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/56397

[11] From painting to photography: Aleksandr Rodchenko’s revolution in visual art, [online] Available: https://thecharnelhouse.org/2014/09/19/from-painting-to-photography-aleksandr-rodchenkos-revolution-in-visual-art/

[12] Angelina Lucento. “The Conflicted Origins of Soviet Visual Media: Painting, Photography, and Communication in Russia, 1925–1932.” Cahiers du monde russe, Vol. 56, No. 2–3, pp. 401–428, 2015.

[13] Alexander Rodchenko, At the Telephone – Smarthistory, [online] Available: https://smarthistory.org/alexander-rodchenko-at-the-telephone/

[14] At the Telephone | Cleveland Museum of Art, [online] Available: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2007.146

[15] Alexander Rodchenko, The stairs, 1929. SFMOMAt, [online] Available: https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2000.87/

[16] Aglaya Glebova. “No Longer an Image, Not Yet a Concept: Montage and the Failure to Cohere in Aleksandr Rodchenko’s Gulag Photoessay.” Art History, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 332–361, 2019.

[17] Aleksandr Rodchenko. USSR in Construction, Monthly Illustrated Journal: The Baltic-White Sea Canal, no. 12. 1933 | MoMA, [online] Available: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/26505

[18] Boris Ignatovitch | International Center of Photography, [online] Available: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/boris-ignatovitch?all%2Fall%2Fall%2Fall%2F0

[19] Boris Ignatovich — 1920s–1930s | Nailya Alexander Gallery, [online] Available: https://www.nailyaalexandergallery.com/1920s-1930s/boris-ignatovich2

[20] Boris Ignatovich, St. Isaac's cathedral, 1931,  [online] Available: http://gallery.borisignatovich.com/old-leningrad/

[21] Georgy Petrusov (1903–1971): Selected Photographs — Nailya Alexander Gallery, [online] Available: https://www.nailyaalexandergallery.com/exhibitions/georgy-petrusov-1903-1971-selected-photographs

[22] A New Vision of the Soviet Union | The Jewish Museum (Stories), [online] Available: https://stories.thejewishmuseum.org/a-new-vision-of-the-soviet-union-81cc14262ae0

[23] Arkady Shaikhet — Featured Works — Nailya Alexander Gallery, [online] Available: https://www.nailyaalexandergallery.com/1920s-1930s/arkady-shaikhet2/featured-works

[24] Soviet Architecture: The Style of Communist Utopia — Musée Magazine, [online] Available: https://museemagazine.com/features/the-style-of-communist-utopia

[25] Naum Granovsky — 1920s–1930s — Nailya Alexander Gallery, [online] Available: https://www.nailyaalexandergallery.com/1920s-1930s/naum-granovsky

[26] Rika Devos; Alexander Ortenberg; Vladimir Papernyĭ. Architecture of Great Expositions 1937–1959: Messages of Peace, Images of War. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, p.53, 2017.

[27] Gorky Street Stock Photos and Images | Alamy, [online] Available: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/gorky-street.html?sortBy=relevant

[28]Naum Granovsky, View of the Kalinin Bridge and the high-rise building of the Hotel Ukraine, 1966, Lumiere Gallery, [online] Available: https://lumiere.ru/picture/vid-na-kalininskij-most-i-vysotnoe-zdanie-gostinicy-ukraina-1966/

[29] The Art of Photography and Architecture in Soviet Russia: 1920s–1930s  — Nailya Alexander Gallery, [online] Available: https://www.nailyaalexandergallery.com/1920s-1930s