Rather than analyzing the causes of war like a historian, Gueorgui Pinkhassov (1952) sought a visual image of its origins. He found it on page 161 of Tsar Nicholas II’s diary. On July 19, 1914, a midst casual remarks about a walk and a lunch, the Tsar made his first entry about the beginning of the war.
‘The word “war” is underlined, followed by a period. I looked at this point so closely that I could feel the breath of the paper and see the composition of the ink. I understood Malevich’s desire to reduce the world to a black square.’ Pinkhassov likewise held original negatives from the tsar’s family in front of his camera when visiting the palace: faces and façades merge in a single haunting overlay of past and present.

This story is part of a group Magnum project, The First World War Now.