Richard Pare's Lost Vanguard Exhibition at MoMA Captures Soviet Modernist Architecture

From July 18 to October 29, 2007, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City featured Richard Pare's photography, aligning with the release of his book 'Lost Vanguard: Soviet Modern Architecture, 1922-32,' published by Monacelli Press. Over a span of fifteen years, Pare, a documentary photographer, gathered a vast collection for the Centre of Canadian Architecture, which includes more than forty-eight thousand images. He undertook eight journeys to the former Soviet Union to capture structures built between 1922 and 1932, prior to Lenin's passing and the rise of Stalin's Social Realist architecture. Notable buildings such as the Zuev Club and Narkomfin Communal House were designed to reflect revolutionary Communist principles. Pare's work, inspired by 'USSR in Construction,' poignantly depicts the deteriorating condition of these avant-garde sites, infused with a sense of humanity and sadness.