Early 20th-century Russia in Color Photos by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky
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[Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (Russian: Сергей Михайлович Прокудин-Горский, August 30 1863 Russian Empire – September 27, 1944 Paris, France) was a Russian chemist and photographer. He is best known for his pioneering work in color photography of early 20th-century Russia.
Prokudin-Gorsky was born in the ancestral estate of Funikova Gora, in what is now Kirzhachsky District, Vladimir Oblast. His parents were of the Russian nobility, and the family had a long military history. They moved to Saint Petersburg, where Prokudin-Gorsky enrolled in Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology to study chemistry under Dmitri Mendeleev. He also studied music and painting at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1889, he traveled to Berlin to continue his studies in photochemistry at the Technical University of Berlin with Adolf Miethe, who was working on color dyes and three-color photography.
In 1901, he established a photography studio and laboratory in Saint Petersburg and further developed Miethe's methods on color photography. Throughout the years, his photographic work, publications and slide shows to other scientists and photographers in Russia, Germany and France earned him praise, and, in 1906, he was elected the president of the IRTS photography section and editor of Russia's main photography journal, the Fotograf-Liubitel.
His photos of Russia's nature and monuments earned him invitations to show his work to the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna, and, eventually, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family in 1909.
Prokudin-Gorsky's own research yielded patents for producing color film slides and for projecting color motion pictures. His process used a camera that took a series of three monochrome pictures in sequence, each through a different-colored filter. By projecting all three monochrome pictures using correctly colored light, it was possible to reconstruct the original color scene. Any stray movement within the camera's field of view showed up in the prints as multiple "ghosted" images, since the red, green and blue images were taken of the subject at slightly different times]. – Wikipedia
Prokudin-Gorsky was born in the ancestral estate of Funikova Gora, in what is now Kirzhachsky District, Vladimir Oblast. His parents were of the Russian nobility, and the family had a long military history. They moved to Saint Petersburg, where Prokudin-Gorsky enrolled in Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology to study chemistry under Dmitri Mendeleev. He also studied music and painting at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1889, he traveled to Berlin to continue his studies in photochemistry at the Technical University of Berlin with Adolf Miethe, who was working on color dyes and three-color photography.
In 1901, he established a photography studio and laboratory in Saint Petersburg and further developed Miethe's methods on color photography. Throughout the years, his photographic work, publications and slide shows to other scientists and photographers in Russia, Germany and France earned him praise, and, in 1906, he was elected the president of the IRTS photography section and editor of Russia's main photography journal, the Fotograf-Liubitel.
His photos of Russia's nature and monuments earned him invitations to show his work to the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna, and, eventually, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family in 1909.
Prokudin-Gorsky's own research yielded patents for producing color film slides and for projecting color motion pictures. His process used a camera that took a series of three monochrome pictures in sequence, each through a different-colored filter. By projecting all three monochrome pictures using correctly colored light, it was possible to reconstruct the original color scene. Any stray movement within the camera's field of view showed up in the prints as multiple "ghosted" images, since the red, green and blue images were taken of the subject at slightly different times]. – Wikipedia
Group of Jewish children with a teacher. Samarkand. Russia, Samarkand region, 1911 (Original)
Group of Jewish children with a teacher. Samarkand. Russia, Samarkand region, 1911 (Restored by Constantine and Vladimir Khodakovskii)
[Around 1905, Prokudin-Gorsky envisioned and formulated a plan to use the emerging technological advances that had been made in color photography to document the Russian Empire systematically. 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-Gorsky documented the Russian Empire around 1909 through 1915. He conducted many illustrated lectures of his work. His photographs offer a vivid portrait of a lost world – the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming Russian 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.
It has been estimated from Prokudin-Gorsky's personal inventory that before leaving Russia, he had about 3500 negatives. Upon leaving the country and exporting all his photographic material, about half of the photos were confiscated by Russian authorities for containing material that seemed to be strategically sensitive for war-time Russia. According to Prokudin-Gorsky's notes, the photos left behind were not of interest to the general public. Some of Prokudin-Gorsky's negatives were given away, and some he hid on his departure. Outside the Library of Congress collection, none has yet been found.
By Prokudin-Gorsky's death, the tsar and his family had long since been executed during the Russian Revolution, and Communist rule had been established over what was once the Russian Empire. The surviving boxes of photo albums and fragile glass plates the negatives were recorded on were finally stored in the basement of a Parisian apartment building, and the family was worried about them getting damaged. The United States Library of Congress purchased the material from Prokudin-Gorsky's heirs in 1948 for $3500–$5000 on the initiative of a researcher inquiring into their whereabouts. The library counted 1902 negatives and 710 album prints without corresponding negatives in the collection.
In 2001, the Library of Congress produced an exhibition from these, [The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated]. The photographs have since been the subject of many other exhibitions in the area where Prokudin-Gorsky took his photos.
A century after Prokudin-Gorsky explained his ambitions to the tsar, people all around the world are finally able to view his work, fulfilling his goal of showing everyone the glory of the Russian Empire]. – Wikipedia. (Photos by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky via US Library of Congress and Prokudin-Gorsky.org)
P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews). Enjoy.
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-Gorsky documented the Russian Empire around 1909 through 1915. He conducted many illustrated lectures of his work. His photographs offer a vivid portrait of a lost world – the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming Russian 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.
It has been estimated from Prokudin-Gorsky's personal inventory that before leaving Russia, he had about 3500 negatives. Upon leaving the country and exporting all his photographic material, about half of the photos were confiscated by Russian authorities for containing material that seemed to be strategically sensitive for war-time Russia. According to Prokudin-Gorsky's notes, the photos left behind were not of interest to the general public. Some of Prokudin-Gorsky's negatives were given away, and some he hid on his departure. Outside the Library of Congress collection, none has yet been found.
By Prokudin-Gorsky's death, the tsar and his family had long since been executed during the Russian Revolution, and Communist rule had been established over what was once the Russian Empire. The surviving boxes of photo albums and fragile glass plates the negatives were recorded on were finally stored in the basement of a Parisian apartment building, and the family was worried about them getting damaged. The United States Library of Congress purchased the material from Prokudin-Gorsky's heirs in 1948 for $3500–$5000 on the initiative of a researcher inquiring into their whereabouts. The library counted 1902 negatives and 710 album prints without corresponding negatives in the collection.
In 2001, the Library of Congress produced an exhibition from these, [The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated]. The photographs have since been the subject of many other exhibitions in the area where Prokudin-Gorsky took his photos.
A century after Prokudin-Gorsky explained his ambitions to the tsar, people all around the world are finally able to view his work, fulfilling his goal of showing everyone the glory of the Russian Empire]. – Wikipedia. (Photos by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky via US Library of Congress and Prokudin-Gorsky.org)
P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews). Enjoy.
Zindan (prison), with inmates looking out through the bars and a guard with Russian rifle, uniform, and boots, Central Asia. Russia, Emirate of Bukhara, Bukhara area, 1907.
Sart schoolchildren. Russia, Samarkand, 1907.
View of Samarkand from Tillia-Kari. Russia, Samarkand, 1911.
Bukhara bureaucrat. Russia, Bukhara, 1907.
Tea room (Chaĭ-khanė). Russia, Samarkand, 1911.
Sentry at the palace, and old cannons. Russia, Bukhara, 1911.
Street in Bukhara, leading to Char-Minar mosque. Russia, Emirate of Bukhara, Bukhara area, 1911.
Emir Shir-Budun's palace in a country grove. Russia, Bukhara, 1911.
Tekin with his family (group of eleven adults and children, seated on a rug, in front of a yurt). Russia, Transcaspian Region, Merv uyezd (district), Bairam-Ali area, 1911.
Workers packing oil cake. Russia, Transcaspian Region, Merv uyezd (district), Bairam-Ali area, 1911.
Water pipe. Russia, Samarkand, 1911.
Beggars. Russia, Samarkand, 1911.
[Dzhigit Ibragim]. Apparently, the picture depicted an employee of 1st Caucasian Potemkin Kuban Cossack regiment, stationed at the time of filming in the area of Merv. Jigits called Cossacks, who had special trained for riding. Russia, Transcaspian Region, Merv uyezd (district), Bairam-Ali area, 1911.
At work on the upper reaches of the Syr-Darya. Golodnaia Steppe. Russia, Samarkand region, Khujand County, 1911.
Observing a solar eclipse on January 1, 1907, near the Cherniaevo Station in the Tian-Shan mountains above the Saliuktin mines. Golodnaia Steppe. Russia, Samarkand region, Khujand County.
Flat breads vendor. Russia, Samarkand, 1911.
Chained prisoners. Russia, Emirate of Bukhara, Bukhara area, 1907.
Bridge across Amu Darya river near Chardjuy. Russia, Emirate of Bukhara, Chardjuy beylik, 1911.
Alim Khan (1880–1944), emir of Bukhara. Russia, Khanate of Bukhara, 1911.
In the courtyard of a Sart home. On the outskirts of Samarkand, 1906–1907.
Sart types. Russia, Samarkand, 1911.
Fabric merchant. Samarkand, 1911.
Nomadic Kirghiz. Golodnaia Steppe. Russia, Samarkand region, Khujand County, 1911.
His Highness Isfandiyar, Khan of the Russian protectorate of Khorezm (Khiva), full-length portrait, seated outdoors, 1911.
Evgeniev spring. Borzhom (Group of people standing near natural spring at a health resort; some are drinking the mineral water). Russia, Tiflis province, Gori district, Borjomi, 1912.
Group of workers harvesting tea. Greek women. Russia, Kutaisi province, Batumi District, Chakva, 1912.
Mugan. Settler's family. Settlement of Grafovka, Baku province, 1912.
Tea factory in Chakva. Chinese foreman Lau-Dzhen-Dzhau. Russia, Kutaisi province, Batumi District, Chakva, 1912.
Distributing of mineral water. Borzhom (Men pushing carts laden with bottles while others stand and watch; to the side are bundles of packed bottles). Russia, Tiflis province, Gori district, Borjomi, 1912.
Dagestani types. Sunni Muslim man wearing traditional dress and headgear, with a sheathed dagger at his side. Russia, Dagestan region, Avar District, Arakan, 1904.
Bashkir switchman (near Ust-Katav station). Russia, Ufa Province, Zlatoust uyezd (district), Ust-Katavsky Zavod area, 1910.
Mechanical shops for the finishing of artistic castings (Kasli Iron Works). Russia, Perm Province, Yekaterinburg uyezd (district), Kasli town, 1909.
Russian children sitting on the side of a hill near a church and bell tower in the countryside near White Lake, in the north of European Russia. The picture was taken at the church in the background Pyatnitskaya Belozersk (not preserved). Novgorod Province, White Lake County, 1909.
Stone-excavating machine of the single scoop type «Svirskaia no. 2». Russia, Novgorod province, county Cherepovets, 1909.
View from the rear platform of the Simskaia Station of the Samara-Zlatoust Railway. Russia, Ufa Province, Ufa uyezd (district), Simskaya station area, 1909.
At harvest time. Russian Empire (the exact location is unknown), 1909.
Dinner during haying. Russian Empire, Novgorod province, county Cherepovets, 1909.
Girl with strawberries. Russia, Novgorod province, county Kirillov, 1909.
Woodcutters on the Svir River. Russia, Olonets province, county Vytegra, 1909.
Windmill. Russia, Novgorod province, county Cherepovets, Leushino and vicinity (now flooded), 1909.
Vitebsk. Part of the city with the Western Dvina. Russia, Vitebsk Province, Vitebsk, 1912.
Riazan. The Trubezh River and the Cathedral of Christ's Nativity. Russia, Ryazan Province, Ryazan, 1912.
Riazan. General view from the bell tower of Assumption Cathedral from the northwest. Russia, Ryazan Province, Ryazan, 1912.
Avraamievskii Monastery. Russia, Smolensk Province, Smolensk, 1912.
Work at the Bakalskii mine. (Tiazhelyi iron mine. Irkuskan mountain near Bakal). Russia, Ufa Province, Zlatoust uyezd (district), Irkuskan mountain, 1910.
Peasant girls. Russia, Novgorod province, county Kirillov, 1909.
Perm. Headquarters of the Ural Railway Administration. Russia, Perm Province, Perm, 1909.
Molding of an artistic casting (Kasli Iron Works). Russia, Perm Province, Yekaterinburg uyezd (district), Kasli town, 1909.
On the road (near Simskaya staton). Russia, Ufa Province, Ufa uyezd (district), Simskaya station area, 1910.
Village of Kolchedan. Russia, Perm Province, Kamyshlov uyezd (district), Kolchedanskoe village, 1912.
Spinning yarn. In the village of Izvedovo. Russia, the Tver province, county Ostashkov, 1910.
Staro-Sibirskaia Gate in the city of Perm. Russia, Perm Province, Perm, 1909.
Bashkir woman in a folk costume (in the village of Yakhia). Russia, Ufa Province, Ufa uyezd (district), Yakhino village, 1910.
Bashkir near his house (in the village of Yakhia). Russia, Ufa Province, Ufa uyezd (district), Yakhino village, 1910.
[Three generations]. Andrei Petrovitsh Kalganov (L) with son and granddaughter (the last two work in the shops of the Zlatoust plant). A.P. Kalganov – former master in the plant. Seventy-two years old, has worked at the plant for fifty-five years. He was fortunate to present bread and salt to His Imperial Majesty, the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II. Russia, Ufa Province, Zlatoust uyezd (district), Zlatoust town, September 1909.
Peasant woman breaking flax. Russia, Perm Province, Place unknown, circa 1907.
On the Sim River near the Asha-Balashovskii Station. Russia, Ufa Province, Ufa uyezd (district), Asha town, 1910.
Boris-Gleb Monastery, from the bridge. Russia, the Tver province, Torzhok, 1910.
City of Rzhev. Prince Fedor's side (of the city) with the Holy Protectoress Mother of God Church. Russia, the Tver province, Rzhev, 1910.
Cemetery Church of the Exaltation of the Cross. Russia, Tver Province, Ostashkov county, Ostashkov, 1910.
Rampart near the Boris-Gleb Monastery. Russia, the Tver province, Torzhok, 1910.
Site of the source of the Western Dvina near the village of Kariakino three versts from Lake Peno in Tver Province, Ostashkov District. Volga River Region, 1910.
Monks at work (Gethsemane Monastery). Planting potatoes. Russia, Tver Province, Ostashkov County, Isle of Gorodomlya, 1910.
City of Aleksandrov. General view of Trinity Monastery. Russia, Vladimir Province, Alexander County, Alexandrov, 1911.
View of Suzdal from the bell tower of the Rizpolozhenskii. Russia, Vladimir Province, County Suzdal, Suzdal, 1912.
View of Suzdal along the Kamenka River. Russia, Vladimir Province, County Suzdal, Suzdal, 1912.
View of the railroad, city of Vladimir, Kliazma River, and water-meadows, 1911.
View of the city of Tobolsk from Assumption Cathedral from the northwest. Russia, Tobolsk Province, Tobolsk uyezd (district), Tobolsk town, 1912.
Night camp by a rock on the bank of the Chusovaia (Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii (R) and others seated at a campsite). Russia, Perm Province, Kungur uyezd (district), Demidova Utka village area, 1912.
Hut of settler Artemii, nicknamed Kota, who has lived at this place more than 40 years. Russia, Perm Krai, Yekaterinburg uyezd (district), 1912.
Peasant hut in the village of Martianova (Chusovaia River). Russia, Perm Province, Kungur uyezd (district), Martianovo village, 1912.
Razsoshka River, flowing into the Chusovaia River at the village of Verkhnie Gorodki. Russia, Perm Province, Perm uyezd (district), Verkhnie Gorodki (submerged), 1912.
Village of Rodina (Chusovaia River). Russia, Perm Province, Kungur uyezd (district), Rodina (uninhabited), 1912.
General view of the Zlatoust plant and Trinity Cathedral. Russia, Ufa Province, Zlatoust uyezd (district), Zlatoust town, September 1909.
View from the bell tower of the Trinity cathedral (of the Trinity Monastery) on Cathedral Square in Belgorod, during the celebration of the canonization of Ioasaf of Belgorod, September 4, 1911. Russia, Kursk province, Belgorod town.
Chapel from the time of Peter the Great (1672–1725), near Kivach waterfall. Russia, Olonets province, Petrozavodsk uyezd (district), Kivach, 1916.
Group of railroad construction participants (on the pier in Kem-Pristan). Russia, Arkhangelsk province, Kem' uyezd (district), Kem town area, 1916.
Baling machine for hay. Russia, Olonets province, Petrozavodsk uyezd (district), Kivach station, 1916.
Austrian prisoners of war near a barrack. Russia, Olonets province, Petrozavodsk uyezd (district), Kivach station, 1916.
Railroad bridge over the Shuia River. Russia, Olonets province, Petrozavodsk uyezd (district), Shuya village, 1916.
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