1230
as A. Ivanov, M. Revenski, D. Nikitin, V. Barkanov
and others. In the 1880-s photo-recording of various
events became quite frequent. Alexei Ivanitski made a
photographic document of the crash of the Tzar train
in 1888. But these works were a long cry from the real
photographic reports. Photographers kept concentrating
on static scenes. Their attempts to refl ect the dynamics
of the event were still rather shy.
Lieutenant N. Apostoli made marine photographs
with the help of a double camera he constructed in 1890.
Apostoli outlined his experience in the “Guidance for
studying practical photography for naval offi cers and
tourists.”
The documentary photographs were badly needed by
the illustrated. At that time they still published photo-
graphs engraved by artists. But even in the copies made
by artists one could easily trace the photographic basis.
The demand for such photographs went steadily up. The
photo-images were often used by artists involved in
battle painting: they introduced some of the documental
details rendered by photographers into their works.
In the 19th century painting in Russia the peredvizh-
niks were obviously domineering. This surely told on
photography: the leading tendency consisted in render-
ing the surrounding world realistically by purely photo-
graphic means. The concept of free photographic setting
kept gaining weight. The plots were often taken from
regular life of common people, not necessarily some
extraordinary scenes but also a most routine ones.
One of the prominent proponents of realistic pho-
tography was Maxim Dmitriev (1858–1948). The most
outstanding of his works was the album “Year of Poor
Crops of 1891–1892 in the Nijnij Novgorod Province.”
The woes of people suffering of severe drought and
epidemics of typhoid and cholera were the center of the
fi rst photo-publicist report in Russia.
The method similar to photo-documentary was also
employed in literature. It helped to transmit the realistic
message and make the plot more close to reality. Thus,
for example, the famous Russian writer Anton Chekhov
(1860–1904) visited Sakhalin in 1890 and in his literary
work “The Island of Sakhalin” fi rst published in 1895
the writer rendered with photography-like exactness all
the details of the way of life of convicts and exiles. The
basis for this description was laid down by his observa-
tions and a series of photos.
In 1890s Alexei Kuznezov (1851–?) a convict con-
fi ned to ten years in the Zabaikalje region for revolu-
tionary activities, created an album called “Views and
Types of the Nerchinsk Servitude.” Documentary pho-
tographs of the late 19th century made Dmitri Jermakov
(1845–1916) one of the fi rst photographers of Georgia.
His diverse photographic legacy included landscapes,
architectural monuments, scenes of life of different
nationalities from Georgia, Armenia, Persia. His studio
on Tifl is (at present Tbilisi) one might consider a pro-
totype of a photo-agency of today. In 1896 Jermakov
issued his “Catalogue of photographic views and types
of the Caucus, Persia, The European and Asian parts
of Turkey.” It comprised over 18 thousand images and
anyone could order the view he liked for a fee. Jermakov
made studio ethnographic photos: the sitters dressed in
the national costumes played the moments of their real
life. The photographer admired both the picturesque
moments and the routine situations and fi xed them down
in a short period of time.
In all these works one could trace the starting point
of the contemporary understanding of photography.
According to this understanding the realistic rendering
is an artistic document, which does not simply refl ect
but infl uences the reality. Masters like that were the
ones who predetermined the concept of specifi cs of
photography.
A considerable part of photographic legacy is consti-
tuted by landscape city shooting. Many photographers
especially from 1870s on recorded the sights of the home
town. The photographers were particularly attracted
by large cities such as St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhni
Novgorod and some others.
A large-scale shooting of Moscow and its suburbs
was carried out by Albert Meighm in1870–1880s un-
der the task of one of the Moscow leading bourgeois,
Nikolai Naidenov. As a result an album appeared, which
comprised the photographs of architectural monuments
and vies of the streets in the city. It should be mentioned
that these works were not aimed at rendering the city’s
life. In 1890–1900s Petr Pavlov carried out a shooting of
Moscow; he focused primarily on genre and view pho-
tography. In his works architectural monuments were
recorded on the background of the vigorous city life.
In the 19th century photography was actively used
to solve scientifi c problems and execute applied tasks.
The fi rst Russian photographer who made photographs
of Russian style buildings and period pieces was Ivan
Barschevski (1851–1948). He made a great number of
photographs of architectural monuments, archeological
objects and different ancient pieces from museums for
the purpose of future scientifi c research.
Another vivid example of applied use of photographs
is the research works by Jevgeni Burinski (1849–1912),
who employed photography in court litigation. In 1886
he worked out a method of layer by layer restoration
of image (colour-separating method), which allowed
to read spoiled manuscripts and inspect the documents
if there is a doubt in their authenticity. In 1894 he used
this method in his work in the Emperor’s Academy of
Sciences—he studied leather documents of the 14th
century.
Pictorial photography in Russia was also pushed
forward by amateurs (fi rst amateurs appeared already