Book of the Month – The April Theses

Davide Monteleone

July 5, 2017

100 years ago, Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov, leader of the revolutionary, Bolshevik party, and better known as Lenin, was able to leave his exile in Switzerland and, within a matter of months, ignite one of the most influential, revolutionary upheavals known to date. Exactly 100 years later, Davide Monteleone set out to find traces of that journey.
A journey back in time: 100 years ago, Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov, leader of the revolutionary, Bolshevik party, and better known as Lenin, was able to leave his exile in Switzerland and, within a matter of months, ignite one of the most influential, revolutionary upheavals known to date. Exactly 100 years later, the Italian photographer, Davide Monteleone set out to find traces of that journey. Starting in Zürich, he explored Lenin’s route through Germany, Sweden and Finland all the way to St. Petersburg, bringing back to life the two-week journey of the revolutionary whose activities would change not only Russia, but the whole world.

The photographer has now put the documents and experiences from this exploratory journey together, presenting them in his latest photo book. The title is taken from the appellation of the political programme that Lenin presented in April 1917, immediately after his return from ten years in exile. In search of the original draft of the April Theses, Monteleone explored Russian archives and evaluated literary sources. The photo book presents a combination of archive photographs, travel documents and landscape impressions, as well as completely staged images, where the real and the replicated journeys merge into one, in the part of the project where the photographer slipped into the role of Lenin and portrayed himself in places along the route. The result of the chronology of these two significant weeks is an exciting photo story that not only questions the documentary photography genre, but also reinterprets it in an unusual and individual manner.

Over the last sixteen years, Davide Monteleone has dealt time and again with Russian history. He lived in Moscow from 2001 to 2003, working as a correspondent for the Contrasto Agency. The experiences he collected there were to have a great influence on the work he would do in the following years, giving rise to a series of photo books. The first one, Dusha. Russian Soul, appeared in 2007; two years later came La Linea Inesistente. In 2012 he received the European Publishers Award for Photography for the book Red Thistle, and in 2013 he published the photo book Spasibo. His latest book adds a noteworthy chapter to the examination of the political situation and history of Russia.
Ulrich Rüter

Davide Monteleone, The April Theses
128 pages (112 optional pages) + 16 pages in smaller format,
17 x 23,6 cm, Edizioni Postcart
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Davide Monteleone

Davide Monteleone+-

Born 1974, Monteleone spent the first eighteen years of his life in different places in Italy. He broke off his studies in Engineering to live, first of all, in the USA and later in England. The latter was where he discovered an interest in photography and journalism. He returned to Italy in 2000, completing studies in Photography and beginning to work for Italian newspapers.

Today his pictures are found regularly in the most important, international magazines, and he is the recipient of many awards. Since spending time in Moscow (2001–2003), his research into Russia has becomes his most important theme. More

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Book of the Month – The April Theses

Davide Monteleone