Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2018.

Untitled (Crowd 2)

Artist Alexey Titarenko (Russian, b. 1962)

CultureRussian

Date1993

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 14 1/2 × 14 3/16 in. (36.8 × 36 cm)
Overall, Support: 15 5/8 × 18 1/2 in. (39.7 × 47 cm)
Overall, Mat: 28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)

InscribedEdition 4/10

Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank

Object number2004.6

Not on view

Label TextAlexey Titarenko American, b. Russia 1962 Untitled (Crowd 2), 1993 Gelatin silver print (photograph) Alexey Titarenko made this photograph just after the collapse of the USSR to convey the experience of St. Petersburg’s inhabitants. After initial celebrations and what the mayor called the city’s “spiritual revival,” old hardships intensified and residents began to struggle. The artist recalls that residents were “transforming into…wandering shadows…. I saw people on the verge of insanity, in confusion…full of sorrow and desperation, tottering on their routine dreary routes with their last ounce of strength…like shadows from the underworld.” Titarenko used a long exposure to express this trudging sense of loss and desperation. “It was a place where time had come to a standstill. This perception of time stopped convinced me that it could also be stopped by means of a camera shutter.” Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 2004.6 Exhibition History"Side by Side," Waitzer Community Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 9 - August 6, 2010. "Photographs Take Time: Pictures from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, April 6 - August 26, 2018.