For nearly three decades between 1921 to 1949, photographer Max Penson chronicled the profound transformations in Uzbekistan.
The Forgotten Photographer Of Soviet Uzbekistan
As Central Asia was transformed under Soviet rule, one man made a remarkable record of life in the fledgling Uzbek S.S.R. before being driven from his career and toward tragedy.
29
Two local girls at a parade. Despite Penson's masterful work, his contribution to photographic history has been scarcely recognized.
30
Shafts of sunlight in the Hall of the Supreme Council in Tashkent. In 1998, The New York Times spoke to members of Penson's family who maintain a large archive of the photographer's work in Tashkent. "The Uzbek government is not interested in promoting him because he was not Uzbek," his son-in-law said. "But the Russian Embassy told us that they wouldn't sponsor a show because he wasn't Russian, and the Israelis told us they weren't interested because he didn't concentrate on Jewish themes. "