Margaret Bourke-White characterized
her trip through the mountain villages of Soviet Georgia in 1932 as "the
most exciting trip of my life." It was her third consecutive trip to Russia,
but the first time she was given previously denied access to Tiflis, the home
of Stalin's mother, Madame Dzhugashvili. Dressed in native Georgian women's
clothing, Madame Dzhugashvili expresses a look of bewilderment, perhaps over
her son's plans for Russia's future or why she should be the subject of an
American photographer. Bourke-White found that despite Dzhugashvili's age, she
was an extremely graceful person. "Her face was not beautiful, but the
features were well defined and the face full of character. One felt she might
have been very beautiful when she was young."