172
Academy of Fine Arts, as well as expositions of the
peredvizshniks and some photographic portraits.
In 1880 V. Stasov ordered a series of photographs
for the “Bakchisaraisky palace” album from Boldyrjev.
Bodyrjev went to the Crimea and made brilliant photo-
graphs of the facade and the interior of the Bakchisara-
isky palace as well as a couple of marvelous landscapes.
Currently, these photographs are in the collection of the
St. Petersburg Public library.
In 1889 at the World exhibition in Paris, Boldyrjev
was awarded a certifi cate of merit for his works and
in 1898, at the fi fth exhibition of RETS he received a
diploma for photographs made in lamp light and night
photographs of illumination.
Boldyrjev was a drawing teacher by profession and
therefore he reckoned himself among photographic
amateurs. Still though, some photographers considered
him to be a professional. In 1883 and 1886 he issued a
booklet called “Inventions and improvements in pho-
tography made by Boldyrjev. In this booklet Boldyrjev
describes his fi ndings in a rather detailed way. Boldyrjev
died in 1898 in St. Petersburg.
Boldyrjev’s creative activity was not estimated at its
true worth by his contemporaries. However, his works
did much for the advancement of photography as an
independent art form because he developed purely
photographic expressive images.
Alexey Loginov
Biography
Ivan Vasiljevich Boldyrjev was born in Ternovskaya
stanitsa into the family of a Don kazak. His birth is
unknown, but sources indicate dates of birth from
1848 to 1850. When he was 18 years old he moved to
Novocherkssk and became an apprentice photographer
at a studio. In 1872 he moved to St. Petersburg, where
he worked at the studio of Alfred Lorens and visited at
leisure the drawing school of the Society for Fosterage of
Artists. After leaving Lorens’ studio Boldyrjev became
a non-credit student of St. Petersburg Academy of Art.
At the same time he became interested in photography
as an amateur. By combining lenses Boldyrjev created
a short-focus lens. In 1875 he employed the new lens in
making photographs of the land where he was born. He
made photographs of scenes of traditional folk life. On
returning to St. Petersburg Boldyrjev decided to present
the lens he invented at the meeting of the fi fth depart-
ment of Russian Emperor’s Technical Society (RETS).
In1881 he made fi rst fl exible fi lm to use instead of
glass plates and demonstrated it at All-Russia industrial
exhibition in Moscow in 1882. Boldyrjev didn’t enjoy
the support of his contemporaries as far as his inven-
tions were concerned, and kept making photographs
of the wide range of events in the life of his country in
1870–890s. Boldyrjev died in St. Petersburg in 1898.
He was one of those who developed the foundation for
realistic photography in Russia and introduced the aes-
thetic principles further developed by other prominent
photographers of the trend.Further Reading
S. Morozov. Artistic Photography. M., Planet, 1986, 416 pp.
E.Barkchatova “The Don scenes by Ivan Boldyrjev” Nashje
Nasledije (Our Legacy) 1989, no. IV (10), 624–631.
Russische Photographie 1840–1940. Berlin, Ars Nicolai. 1993
Russian Photography. The Middle of the 19th–the Beginning
of the 20th Century. Chief editor N. Rakchmanov, ed. M.,
Planeta, 1996, 344 pp.
P. Horoshilov. A.Loginov. The Masterpieces of the Photography
from Private Collections. Russian Photography 1849–1918.
M., Punctum 2003, 176 pp.BONAPARTE, PRINCE ROLAND
(1858–1924)
Prince Roland Bonaparte was great nephew of Napolean
Bonaparte. Barred from a military career he took up
science and was taught by the distinguished FrenchBOLDYRJEV, IVAN VASILJEVICH
Bonaparte, Prince Roland Napoleon. Betty, Fillette Hotentotte
(Hottentot Girl), 9 ans. from album “Boschimans et
Hottentots”
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles © The J. Paul Getty
Museum.