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KARELIN, ANDREY OSIPOVICH

(1837–1906)
Professional photographer, artist

Andrey Osipovich Karelin was born in 1837 in the Tam-
bov region. He was the illegitimate child of a peasant
woman and a landlord. During his childhood Karelin
demonstrated an inclination for painting, and at the age
of ten wanted to be a master of iconic painting. The lo-
cal landlord recognized his talent and in 1857, sent him
to St. Petersburg Academy of Art. At the Academy, he
studied with future famous artists such as I. Kramskoy,
K. Makovsky and others. In the course of his studying,
Karelin received two silver medals for his works.
Karelin began as a retoucher in a photographic stu-
dio and later chose to experiment with photography.
Upon graduating the Academy in 1864 and receiving
the qualifi cation of an “independent artist,” Karelin
left St. Petersburg. In the summer he went to Nizhny
Novgorod’s fair and chose to stay there to work in the
studio of M. Nastjukov, one of the fi rst photo-chronog-
rapher in the Volga area.
In 1869 Karelin opened a studio of his own in Nizhny
Novgorod. The photographer made portraits and multi-
fi gured genre scenes. At fi rst he used wet collodion, but
then switched to bromgelatine plates with dimensions
of 50 × 60 cm. The more perfect optical shape of the
lens allowed him to achieve considerable depth of focus
in his multi-fi gured compositions. The decisive factor
affecting the scene was the light and the layout of his
photos which were derived from the laws of academic
painting that he studied in the Academy of Arts.
In 1870 the gentlefolks’ leader of Nizhny Novgorod
requested that Karelin and the well-known Russian
landscape painter I. Shishkin create an album comprised
of images within Nizhny Novgorod, its neighborhood,
and photos of the nationalities inhabiting the region.

The prints were water-colored by Shishkin and Karelin

themselves. The exemplary album was presented to the

Emperor Alexander II.

From 1870 to 1880, Karelin created a most interesting

“Art Album of Photos from Life,” which contained his

studio genre pictures. The photographer photographed

idyllic family life where everyone in his pictures were

preoccupied with something appropriate. Some were

depicted playing musical instruments while others

read. Karelin was in constant search for a more effec-

tive means of expression. He experimented with sitters,

costumes, and worked on composition by taking several

pictures of the same scene. His primary concern in ar-

ranging the scene was to make all the elements of the

composition interactive. Karelin loved to use windows

as the background for his photos, thus demonstrating

his mastery in lighting, making the sitters’ features and

the photographs’ details visible through exemplify-

ing the light and shadow of the photograph. Karelin

experimented with the role of property by photograph-

ing unique objects from everyday life that he had in

his varied collection, which he had been gathering for

quite a while.

All the works in the album were in accordance with

the laws of academic painting. Even the scenes donated

to charity bore no pathos of exposure of social inequity

and characteristics of injustice, which were often found

in the works by peredvizhniks. Karelin tried to make

photo-images less documentary by employing the

method suggested by Russian photographer A. Denier.

Karelin made a wide use of this technique especially

in the works of considerable size, thus obtaining a soft

image without needing to retouch it. M. Dmitriev, a

photographer, wrote of Karelin’s works: “He was the

fi rst to show how to photo groups of sitters in a studio

so as to fi x marvelous effects of sunlight and make the

poses of sitters dainty and noble. His works were always