On The Way Home

Anne Fishbein made her first trip to Yaroslavl, Russia, in 1990. She has returned nearly every year since, documenting the city's progress away from communist isolation and into the modern world. This mesmerizing collection of more than 50 black-and-white photographs, both portraits and street scenes — bakery workers, soldiers on guard, a wedding couple, children smoking — captures the inherent timelessness of people and places, and presents a fascinating glimpse into a changing yet eternal culture. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Two introductions, by filmmaker Chris Schmidt and Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator Robert Sobieszek, provide a thoughtful context.