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Max Alpert

Soviet Russian photo journalist (1899-1980)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ709400
Source-derived summary

Max Vladimirovich Alpert (Russian: Макс Владимирович Альперт; 18 March 1899 – 30 November 1980) was a prominent Soviet photographer who was mostly known for his frontline work during World War II.

Biography

Before World War I, Alpert studied in Odessa, where he lived until the early twenties. There he began taking pictures in 1914 with his brother Mikhail, moving to Moscow that year. After the war he worked as a photographer for Pravda and Rabochaya Gazeta (Workers Newspaper) in Moscow. In the 1930s, he photographed numerous construction sites of the Soviet Union. During that time, Sergei Eisenstein stayed with him at the Great Fergana Canal and was impressed by his passion for photography. At Pravda, he was known as a prolific portrait photographer. He exhibited documentary photography in Moscow in 1928 and 1931, and in Stuttgart, in Film und Foto. In 1931 and in collaboration with Arkadikh Shaikhet and Solomon Tules, he made the picture story "A day in the life of a working class Muscovite family". Its serial narrative, non-formalist photography was a model for other Rossiiskoe obshchestvo proletarskikh fotoreporterov ROPF (Russian Association of Proletarian Photojournalists) photographers. He was a frequent contributor of such stories to the magazine SSSR na stroike.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Max Alpert” as soviet Russian photo journalist (1899-1980). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1899, 1980, 1914, 1928—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1899-03-18. The account is most persuasive where Alpert, Soviet and Russian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as soviet Russian photo journalist (1899-1980). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q709400. VIAF identifies the subject as 80786073. The Library of Congress control number is n81047270. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1980, 1914 and 1928.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Max Alpert”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Max Alpert primary sources, Max Alpert archive and Alpert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Max Alpert”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Max Alpert” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.