Photographer to the Tsar:
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii
The
photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer
a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire on the eve of World
War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval
churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories
of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's
diverse population.
In the early 1900s Prokudin-Gorskii formulated
an ambitious plan for a photographic survey of the Russian Empire that
won the support of Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909-1912, and again in
1915, he completed surveys of eleven regions, traveling in a specially
equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation.
Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia in 1918,
going first to Norway and England before settling in France. By then,
the tsar and his family had been murdered and the empire that Prokudin-Gorskii
so carefully documented had been destroyed. His unique images of Russia
on the eve of revolution--recorded on glass plates--were purchased by
the Library of Congress in 1948 from his heirs. For this exhibition,
the glass plates have been scanned and, through an innovative process
known as digichromatography, brilliant color images have been produced.
This exhibition features a sampling of Prokudin-Gorskii's historic images
produced through the new process; the digital technology that makes these
superior color prints possible; and celebrates the fact that for the
first time many of these wonderful images are available to the public.
Born in Murom, Vladimir Province,
Russia (originally believed to be St. Petersburg)
in 1863 and educated
as a chemist, Prokudin-Gorskii devoted his career to the advancement
of photography. He studied with renowned scientists in St. Petersburg,
Berlin, and Paris. His own original research yielded patents for producing
color film slides and for projecting color motion pictures. Around 1907
Prokudin-Gorskii envisioned and formulated a plan to use the emerging
technological advancements that had been made in color photography to
systematically document the Russian Empire. Through such an ambitious
project, his ultimate goal was to educate the schoolchildren of Russia
with his "optical color projections" of the vast and diverse history,
culture, and modernization of the empire. Outfitted with a specially
equipped railroad car darkroom provided by Tsar Nicholas II, and in possession
of two permits that granted him access to restricted areas and cooperation
from the empire's bureaucracy, Prokudin-Gorskii documented the Russian
Empire around 1907 through 1915. He conducted many illustrated lectures
of his work. Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia in 1918, after the Russian
Revolution, and eventually settled in Paris, where he died in 1944.
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Portrait of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) poses near a
mountain stream, thought to be the Karolitskhali River in the Caucasus
Mountains near the seaport of Batumi on the eastern coast of the
Black Sea.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
On the Karolitskhali River,
ca. 1907-1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-03991) (1)
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Expedition to the Urals
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii and members of his photographic
team are shown here at their overnight campground. The site is
near the Chusovaia River, on the western side of the Ural Mountains
which divide Europe from Asia.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Overnight Camp by
a Rock on the Bank of the Chusovaia River, 1912.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04445) (2)
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Austro-Hungarian Prisoners of War
In the early years of the First World War, Prokudin-Gorskii photographed
a group of prisoners of war from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The
men are probably Poles, Ukrainians, and members of other Slavic
nationalities, imprisoned at an unidentified location in the far
north of European Russia near the White Sea. This image escaped
being confiscated by border guards--the fate of the vast majority
of politically sensitive images--when Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia
for good in 1918--probably because what is being represented is
not immediately obvious.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Austrian Prisoners
of War Near a Barrack, 1915.
Digital color rendering.
Prints and Photographs Division
(LC-DIG-ppmsc-04423) (3)
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Glass Plate Negative
Shown here is one of the thousands of glass plate negatives made
by Prokudin-Gorskii. The negatives served two purposes. Primarily
they were used to produce positive glass slides for his illustrated
lectures about the Russian Empire. Prokudin-Gorskii projected the
slides through the red, green, and blue filters of a device known
as a "magic lantern" which superimposed the images onto a screen
resulting in a full-color picture. Secondly, Prokudin-Gorskii used
the negatives to print reference photographs of his journeys which
were mounted in albums.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Austrian Prisoners
of War Near a Barrack, 1915.
Glass plate negative.
Prints and Photographs Division (60)
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Album of Reference Photographs
Prokudin-Gorskii created albums to serve as photographic records
of his trips across the Russian Empire. Each album is composed
of contact prints--created from his glass plate negatives--which
were mounted in the order in which he traveled. The album page
shown here was created in 1915 during his last known documentary
trip.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Views Along the Murmansk Railway,
1915.
Photo album.
Prints and Photographs Division (59) |
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