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several black and white photos of a group of people standing in front of a buildinga pile of old papers that are on a tableseveral old black and white photos of people standing on a bridgeseveral old black and white photos of a man and a woman standing in front of a buildingseveral black and white photos of a group of people on a beachtwo black and white photos of a group of people on a streetseveral black and white photos of men and women walking down a street
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Estimate €500 - €800
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[Photographs] Raymond Cartier, a senior correspondent for *Paris-Match*, on a trip to the USSR in 1961 A collection of over 235 large-format silver gelatine prints, measuring 20 x 30 cm and 30 x 20 cm, most of which are captioned on the reverse; photo reports by Lucien Nau, senior photojournalist for the Paris-Match agency and its official representative in the Soviet Union, who accompanied Raymond and Rosie Cartier on their journey of discovery through the USSR under Khrushchev. 10 cl. Central Asia (Samarkand) – 38 cl. Siberia (Bratsk Dam) – 33 cl. Caucasus (Baku oil wells, Armenia, Tbilisi, Ukraine, Stalin’s House, etc.) – 40 cl. Ukraine and Stalingrad – 26 cl. Leningrad – 92 cl. Moscow (ballet school, snowplough, Gorky Street, fashion show, the biochemist Alexander Ivanovich Oparin, the Kremlin, etc.) The journey across the entire USSR began on 31 January 1961 and ended on 26 March 1961. Over the course of two months, the Paris-Match team sought to document every facet of the Soviet Union: the industrial sector and major construction projects; 38 photographs of the Bratsk Dam in Siberia (which was then one of the world’s largest construction sites and a source of pride for the regime) and the oil wells in Baku demonstrate Soviet energy power; its vast geographical expanse, from Leningrad to Samarkand (Central Asia), via Armenia and Georgia (Tbilisi); History in the making, with a reference to Stalingrad; a few months later, in the autumn of 1961, the city was renamed Volgograd as part of the de-Stalinisation campaign initiated by Khrushchev’s regime; life in Moscow: the 92 photographs of Moscow encapsulate the magazine’s editorial focus: a blend of high culture (a ballet school), science (a portrait of Alexander Oparin, a scientist world-renowned for his theories on the origin of life), unexpected modernity (Russian fashion shows, a subject much in vogue in the West) and everyday life (snowploughs on Gorky Street). A daily journal of the trip to Russia, a typescript written by Rosie Cartier, 62 pp., in-4 format, beginning on 31 January 1961, departure from Le Bourget, and return to Paris on 26 March 1961 + tourist information In 1961, Raymond Cartier and his wife Rosie were a high-profile couple in the French media and intellectual circles, mainly thanks to Raymond’s fame; he was then one of the country’s most influential journalists. In 1961, Raymond Cartier (1904–1975) was at the height of his career. He was the leading editorial writer and star reporter for Paris Match magazine. In the midst of the Algerian War and the period of African decolonisation, he was the founder of what came to be known as ‘Cartiérisme’, a school of thought advocating pragmatic anti-colonialism. In his view, France was spending too much money on its unprofitable colonies and should instead invest in its own territory to modernise (an idea often summed up by the famous phrase he inspired: ‘Corrèze before the Zambezi’). Rosie Cartier (who died in 2014) was not merely ‘the wife of’; she was her husband’s faithful companion on his major international reporting assignments, which was a rather modern dynamic for the time. In early 1961, the couple flew across the Iron Curtain for a major journey through the Soviet Union, travelling via Moscow and then on to Siberia. Rosie Cartier played an active part in this report and took up the pen herself to recount her experience. In April 1961, she published an account entitled ‘A Parisian Woman in the Heart of Siberia’ (which appeared in the weekly press, notably *7 Jours*). In it, she describes, from a Western and female perspective, the harsh reality, the extreme climate and everyday Soviet life that she observed alongside her husband. Raymond and Rosie Cartier’s journey to the USSR in early 1961 was documented in several accounts in the French press of the time. This major feature took place in the midst of the Cold War, at a pivotal moment for the Soviet Union (just a few weeks before Yuri Gagarin’s first space flight). The full account of this journey appeared in issue 627 of *Paris Match*, published on 15 April 1961. In it, Raymond Cartier authored a comprehensive 10-page feature entitled ‘A Foreigner’s View of the USSR’.
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About the sale ARCHIVES, BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS
Auction location
Auction time 10/08/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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