Lot 266v
266 •(AZERBAIJAN--BAKU OIL FIELDS)
A fascinating and important album with 74 photographs documenting oil production in the sprawling fields of Baku during the first five years of Soviet authority, after the Bolshevik invasion of 1920.
Many images depicting crammed fields along the coast of the Caspian Sea with forests of towering oil derricks, including some spewing gushes of oil; numerous copy images of propagandistic charts, maps, and graphs, designed in true Soviet constructivist style; and many views of adapted infrastructure such as refineries, rail depots, enormous pipelines, and workers' housing. The album apparently dedicated to a single company, or government entity, it appears to focus on analyzing and promoting the industry growth since the new dawn of Soviet rule. Silver prints (42), the images mostly measuring 3¼x2½ inches (8.3x6.4 cm.), some printed two per sheet, nearly all with captions, in Cyrillic, in the negative. Oblong 8vo, red leatherette with a debossed title. 1920-25
[1,200/1,800]