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Photography by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky and Maxim Dmitriev documented the very different social landscape of Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sergei Prokudin-Golsky, A Group of Workers Collecting Tea Near Chakva, Georgia, 1905-1915.
In the decades leading up to the October Revolution (1917), the Russian Empire had begun to falter. During the first 15 years of the 20th century, with Tsar Romanov Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire, who was also the Grand Duke of Finland and King of Poland, reigned from 1894 to 1917, he experienced the era of the great economic rise of the Russian Empire early in his career, but unfortunately his economic achievements were destroyed by the outbreak of the First World War, In 1918, Nicholas II himself and his family were wiped out by Soviet Red Army soldiers) launched a war with Japan and Germany, production in Russia began to slow down and cause food shortages, and the people witnessed two major industrial crises and economic collapse. The two revolutions of 1917 came at the height of the First World War, and the monarchy was quickly overthrown, leading to the disintegration of the empire and the formation of the Soviet union.
Before this upheaval, two Russian photographers, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944) and Maxim Dmitriev (1858-1948), had become famous for documenting everyday life in the late years of tsarist rule. Although they were contemporaries, their work presented a very different perspective on the land. Prokudin-Gorsky's images are undoubtedly high-definition and incomparably gorgeous, and he also took many of the earliest color photographs of Russia. In contrast, Dmitriev's depiction of rural scenes reveals the miserable living conditions of most of the empire. The archives of these two men, as well as the differences in their personal histories, prove that early Russian photography was used both as imperialist propaganda and as a realistic subject matter for documentary journalism.
Born into an aristocratic family in Murom(A city in Vladimir, Russia), Prokudin-Gorsky studied chemistry at the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology and at the Imperial University of Arts. Later, he married the daughter of an industrialist and became a director of his father-in-law's executive board. There, he joined the Imperial Russian Technology Society (IRTS). Founded in 1866, bringing together scientists and engineers of the Then Russian Empire, initiated by the Ministry of Government Education and the Ministry of Finance, and supported by other public institutions and industries, the Association aimed at further promoting the development of Russian manufacturing and industry through new inventions and the application of new technologies), the most outstanding scientific organization in Russia at that time, where he acquired cutting-edge camera technology. A few years later, he became Chairman of the Photography Department of IRTS and Editor of fotograf-Liubitel/Amateur Photographer , a prestigious Russian photography magazine.
These prestigious positions prompted Prokudin-Gorski to display his photographs for Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (1878-1918) and Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928), as well as nicholas II and his family. The Tsar greatly appreciated his work and commissioned the photographer to document Russia's vast cultural and natural landscapes. From 1909 to 1915, Prokudin-Gorsky created more than 10,000 color photographs documenting the different peoples and regions that made up the empire, which at the time covered nearly 23 million square kilometers of land in Europe and Asia. Nicholas provided Prokudin-Gorsky with a darkroom for train cars, where he could create vivid color projections by adding red, green, blue, and other filters to black and white exposures. Much of his work is designed to educate students about Russia's various cultures and its thriving modern industry. The quality of these images, along with their original compositions, creates a visual balance that transcends class divisions, depicting in its own way a beautiful moment in each social way of life.
Prokudin-Golsky, General view of Artvin from the small town of Svet, 1912.
Gorsky, photographing a melon vendor in traditional Central Asian costume standing in front of his stall at the Samarkand Market in present-day Uzbekistan, 1912.
Despite their unique characteristics, the images still feel very staged. In portraits of peasants, they are shown posing together and looking directly into the camera, as if their economic status can be surpassed by aesthetic elevation – which seems to be a dignified poverty. This painting of Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan (1880-1944, the last emir of the Emirate of Bukhara, reigned 1910-1918), the last emir of the Manghit dynasty of Uzbekistan, was the last of Genghis Khan to have dominion over part of the territory of the former Mongol Empire, although it had become a protectorate of the Russian Empire, But he could still exercise the power of an absolute monarch at home) uses almost the same composition and color texture as a portrait of a civilian smoking shisha on the streets of Samarkand (the old capital of Uzbekistan). A striking portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), a Russian novelist, philosopher, political thinker, and nonviolent Christian anarchist and educational reformer, taken two years before his death, shows the author of War and Peace (1867) sitting in an idyllic outdoor environment. This high-resolution photograph captures every sign of aging on Tolstoy's hands and face, an astonishing achievement of photographic technique in 1908.
Prokudin-Gorsky, Russian Peasant Girls-retouched, 1909.
Prokudin-Golsky, Mohammed Alim Khan, 1911.
Prokudin-Golsky, S chilimom. Samarkand），1905-1915。
Prokudin-Gorsky, Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana, 1908.
Prokudin-Gorsky's upbringing quickly earned him national recognition, and Dmitriev's more humble origins set him on a different path. The latter was born into a commoner family in Tambov (the capital of Russia's Tambov Oblast) and grew up weaving baskets and reciting hymns for the dead. Despite his limited time, he achieved excellent results in his studies, and at the age of 15 he became the famous Russian photographer of the time, M.P. Nastykov. Nastyukov) and Andrei Karelin (1837-1906) as apprentices. Working in their studio, he expanded his knowledge of developing photographic techniques such as soaking substrates, darkroom processing, and retouching techniques.
Dmitriev, "The People Who Dine in the Village of Plalevka in the Lukoyanov District", 1891-1892.
In 1879, Dmitriev moved to Nizhny Novgorod (the administrative center of the Volga Federal District and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast of Russia) and began photographing scenes of everyday life – the sea and landscapes, Orthodox and Muslim ceremonies, pilgrimage monks and workers along the Volga River. After completing these works, he traveled to Paris and participated in a number of group exhibitions. His photographs of prison construction workers caused a sensation among the audience; some were critical of the content of the photographs, while others were moved by their honesty. After returning to Russia, he continued to shoot unconventional scenes of suffering. His monograph A Lean Year (1891) chronicled a small village that suffered a harvest failure. Hungry farmers are ragged, doctors and social workers are rationing bread and caring for the sick in dilapidated houses.
Dmitriev, "Spoon Production in the Village of Jayanovo in the Volga Region", 1897.
The Bolshevik Revolution influenced the careers of both photographers as the Soviet Union gave birth to new paradigms of class hierarchy and political art. Dmitriev's work in the 1890s remains the earliest case of photojournalism in Russia, in which visual exposure to class inequality changed the perception of public opinion, and he remained in Nizhny Novgorod until his death. Meanwhile, Prokudin-Gorski lost sponsorship funds after the Romanov family was executed and resettled in Paris.
Dmitriev, "Fight in front of the dormitory building of N.A. Bugrova in Nizhny Novgorod."
Dmitriev's photographs predate the Progressive Era in the West (1896-1932), when photography helped drive the powerful social reforms necessary for industrialization. Prokudin-Gorsky avoided the darker scenes of peasant life and instead promoted more imperialist propaganda of the Tsar, which explains why his images were so perfect. It feels like a profound portrayal of how corporate media works today, where a beautiful image can replace a more meaningful critique of class injustice. It also represents how photography continues to play a role in the art market, making a fortune in a painful image in the right style.
Today, Prokudin-Gorsky remains a fantasist of color photography, meeting all the criteria of Western iconography, while Dmitriev has almost disappeared without a trace. By the way, the US Library of Congress acquired the full image archive of Prokudin-Gorssky in 1948, and Dmitriev's work is barely found online. It may seem strange that Dmitriev did not become more famous as a pioneer of social reformers of the 20th century, but the Soviet avant-garde (the wave of modern art that flourished during the Russian Empire and the Soviet period) was roughly from 1890-1930. This period contained many independent but inextricably linked and flourishing artistic movements. There are mainly supremacism, Russian futurism, constructivism, three-dimensional futurism, neo-primitivism, etc.) will soon surpass these two photographers in style and content, plunging the spotlight of art media into a new era.
Dmitriev, The House of Solovatov of the Tatars in the Village of Kadomka in the Sergachi District, 1891-1892.
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This article is originally created by the public account [ABAGo] manager Happy Big Fat
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