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photographic process at first made Carrick confine
himself to working in a studio. He made photographs of
various city types, staging scenes of folksy lives in St.
Petersburg. In particular, since 1860 he made photographs
of water-carriers, haberdashery salesmen, carriers, etc.
As time passed, Carrick started to work in the streets of
St. Petersburg and its suburbs, which turned out to be
a rehearsal for future trips abroad. In 1862 he made a
series of ethnographic cartes de visite “Russian Types.”
He received for this series, as a present from Tsarevitch
Nikolai, the son of emperor Alexander II, a diamond ring.
This success made him and his studio very popular.
Carrick never stopped making ethnographic photo-
graphs as he saw in such kind of works an independent
artistic value. In 1871 he made a trip to Samara, Sim-
birsk and the Saratov regions where he concentrated
on life scenes of the peasantry. There he carried out a
large-scale ethnographic photographic session. 1872
was a year of hard blows to Carrick for in this year
McGregor, his associate died.
In 1875 however he already made another long trip
with his new assistant. He traveled over Yaroslavl, Tver,
Kostroma, and the Kazan regions all the way down the
Volga river, and up to Nizhni Novgorod. Carrick’s pho-
tographs refl ected the way of life for Russian peasants in
their natural setting however, Carrick always remained
an artist in his work. He created artistic compositions
by means of choosing the landscape, vantage point, and
arranging the ethnographic groups. Carrick recorded
not the dramatic social confl icts, but the true poetry of
the Russian village and the Russian nature. Still, his
staged scenes contain the traits of peasant’s life, which
makes his material a valuable source of ethnographic
and social information.
In the course of his trip Carrick made over 800 pho-
tographs. The bulk of these works were purchased by
the Public library following the initiative of a promi-
nent art critic and historian Vladimir Stasov. The latter
distinguished in these works a most valuable source of
culture-specifi c material. Stasov created a collection
of photographs by different photographers, including
Carrick, in the Public library and then he gave the
genre-specifi c photographs to artists for them to use as
images to paint.
In 1872 Carrick’s works won a silver medal at the
Polytechnic exhibition in Moscow, and in 1873 Carrick
exhibited his works at an international exhibition in Lon-
don through the fi rst appearance of the fi fth department
of the RETS. In 1876 Carrick was awarded the title of
Academy of Arts photographer. Then in 1878, he died
suddenly in St. Petersburg.
Creative works by Carrick were highly regarded by
his contemporaries. It was written in his obituary that
one of the most outstanding Russian photographers
had died. Even the outstanding fi gure in photography,
Vyacheslav Sreznevsky, believed that Carrick’s works
were there to prove the true meaning and the true idea
of photography. Today we can say that he was one of
the fi rst to begin the development of the ethnographic
fundamentals of photography through his images of the
life within Russian villages. His creative legacy laid the
basis for publicist reports on rural life, similar to those
of Maxim Dmitriev’s.
Today it is obvious that the main interest and theme
of the Russian peasant in the Russian culture is being
revived. In 2005 the State Russian Museum organized
important exhibitions in Moscow and in Saint-Peters-
burg entitled the Peasant World in Russian Art, where
the objects of painting, sculpture and decorative arts
were presented. Carrick’s work was an integral part of
this cultural heritage of Russia.
Alexey LoginovBiography
William Carrick was born on the 31st of December in
1827 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1828 the family moved
to Kronshtadt. He graduated from the academy in 1850
on receiving an art degree. Since 1853 and up to 1856
continued his artistic education in Rome. In 1857 he left
for Edinburgh to study the technology of photography.
There he became acquainted with a photographer John
McGregor, who later became his associate. In 1859
they opened a photo studio in St. Petersburg. Carrick
made reproductions of paintings by the Academy of
Arts graduates.
From1860 Carrick made studio portraits of city types
staging some scenes from the life of the peasants in St.
Petersburg, often photographing water-carriers, haber-
dashery salesmen and others. In 1862 he made a series
of ethnographic photographs “Russian Types” the size
of a business card. In 1871 he made a trip to Samara,
Simbirsk and Saratov regions where he conducted a
large-scale ethnographic photographic tour. In 1872
Carrick’s works won silver at a Polytechnic exhibition
in Moscow. In 1876 Carrick was awarded the title of
Academy of Arts photographer. He died suddenly in St.
Petersburg in 1878.Further Reading
F. Ashbee, “The Carricks of St.Petersburg,” in The Caledonian
Phalanx, Edinburgh, 1987, 90–105.
F. Ashbee, “William Carrick: A Scots Photographer in
St.Peterburg (1827–1878),” in History of Photography vol.,
Number 3, July 1978, 207–222.
S. Morozov, Artistic Photography. M., Planet, 1986, 416 pp.
J. Lawson, Scottish Masters 3: William Carrick. National Gal-
leries of Scotland, 1987.