The stamp on the reverse of the photographs we hold at WO Archive notes Ganin as a press photographer, Moscow, Petrovka street. Little is known about P. Ganin, the most information we have found has come from an essay by Alexander Ivanov, titled ‘March of the Enthusiasts: photographs from the OZET and ORT archives’. Ivanov notes that Ganin was a special correspondent of the of the Tribuna yevreiskoi sovetskoi obshche-stvennosti (Tribune of Soviet Jewish Community).[1]

Below is an excerpt from the essay which details more about the style in which Ganin worked and the importance of capturing traditional everyday Jewish life.

“…The most talented photo-reporter on the Tribuna was P. Ganin, whose work regularly appeared in the journal’s pages. As examples of his original, creative style we may cite, on the one hand, works showing a characteristic striving after a clear, almost epic quality.[…]

Ganin’s photographs […], are always dynamic and well-judged in their composition, and never look posed or stage-managed; everything is utterly authentic, everything is captured by his lens directly from life. Moreover, [..] his photographs features of traditional Jewish everyday life.[..]”.[2]

[1] Alexander Ivanov, ‘March of the Enthusiasts: photographs from the OZET and ORT archives’  http://ozet.ort.spb.ru/eng/index.php?id=1374  14/03/2023

[2] Ibid.