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Issues of 2008
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Early Russian photo exhibitions
Photography gradually acquired an important place in the fields of science, industry and art. The artistic photography was only a small part of the whole phenomenon, however, it rapidly reached the heights of professionalism and artistic level. Here we classify the first exhibition projects in accordance with the principle of their organization. Single independent expositions The first photo exhibition was organized in 1888 by the special Committee presided by General-Adjutant A.E. Timashev. The exposition was opened under the auspices of Grand Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich on February 2nd, 1988 in the Museum of Applied Science (in Solyanoy Gorodok). The aim of the project was informing the public about the latest achievements in different sectors of photography. The exhibition was initiated by such activists of the art of photography as Levitsky, Warneke and Sreznevsky. These expositions had not only the representative character, but also the character of an artistic contest. Academician Yu.F. Bruni of the Imperial Academy of Art was invited to evaluate the artistic importance of the photographs. The visitors also participated in the process of evaluation of exhibited works. Every visitor received two coupons, where he was asked to fill in the numbers of exhibited photos which were worth of awarding. The exhibition was totally artistic with no attention paid to the technical side of the process. The catalog included 820 works by 138 authors. The exposition featured the works by S. Abamelek-Lazarev, namely the photos of Leo Tolstoy taken in Yasnaya Polyana, the photos of home interiors taken by G. Grum-Grzhimaylo, as well as the reproductions of I.K. Aivazovsky’s paintings by E. Redlich. There were the photos from the White Sea — Onega expedition of the engineers Zdyarsky and Witte and the photo chronicle of the Imperial family life by K. Brandel. The photographs of the solar eclipse of 1887 and microphotograms of the spinal cord of a cat were of particular interest. Establishing of the St.Petersburg Photography Society in December 1897 was an important event in the history of photography in Russia. In 1903, the Society organized an international exposition in St.Petersburg in order to demonstrate how the art of photography developed in different countries. In the autumn of 1907, the I. Steffen Trading Company organized an exposition in the pavilion of G. Denier (19 Nevsky ave.). About 200 exhibited photographs of different character formed a rather interesting collection. In the late 1910, the Society of Architects-Painters organized an exhibition of artistic photos on the theme of architecture. The exhibits were divided in six groups: * photos of buildings interesting in the aspects of architectural design, historical importance, or household culture history (of all epochs up till 1850); * photos of the parts of these buildings: piazzas, porticos and porches; * decorative details: cornices and frontons; * inner room decoration; * parts of decor; * photos of groups of buildings, monastery architecture, characteristic streets, yards, gardens and parks. Photography this time played the role of auxiliary element of historical and artistic studies. The Mastryukov’s art exhibition was opened on 18 December 1910. It was devoted to the art of coloring photos without brushes.
On 11 April 1911, an exhibition of photographs on the theme of military exercises of imperial Russian troops taken by a professional photographer, A. Otsup, was opened. All the photographed scenes featured the members of the Imperial family, Chefs of the troops. The exposition had the common name «On manoeuvres». The names of the best of the presented works were following: «Prise shooting», «Cavalry assault», «Prise races of artillery detachments», «Troops crossing a pontoon bridge», etc. The next exhibition (1 November 1913 – 1 February 1914) was organized by the Imperial Russian Engineering Society. In fact, the exhibition was devoted to heating and illumination and had only indirect connection with photography, concerning the application of illumination for the needs of the photographers. It presented the technical side of the photographic process and was interesting for the professionals only. The last independent exposition worth mentioning was organized in the period of 4–16 December 1913 in the Institute of Technology. It was organized by a photography coterie of the Institute and presented more than 300 photographic works by its students. Expositions consisted of three sections: science, art and colored photography. The exhibition was attended by 658 visitors, in spite of the fact that on the unknown grounds, it was forbidden to advertise the exhibition in the printed press. Photographic expositions of the fifth division of the russian imperial engineering society Establishing of the Fifth division of the Russian Imperial Engineering Society was initiated by an inventor and expert in the field of photography, L. W. Warneke, who originated from St.Petersburg, but later emigrated to England. The aim of the Society was to promote the development of the art of photography in Russia by improving the technical, scientific and artistic sides of the process. The Society was meant to help establishing contacts between the local photographers and to help them in getting the knowledge of the achievements of the photography in the Western Europe countries by means of public lections, seminars, etc. The first major exhibition organized by the Society was opened on 1 April 1889. Not only the Russian private persons and organizations were invited to participate in the event, but also foreign photographers and persons who helped achieving the developments in this field. The last exhibition of the Fifth division of the Russian Imperial Engineering Society was opened in 1894. Its sections were following: * scientific fotographs; * amateur works; * works of professionals. Professor Gabriel Lippmann’s colored «light-paintings» were presented at that exhibition. This section, however, was not rather popular, because the colored photographs by Lumiere of superior quality were already known. The colored images printed using three different paints (blue, red and yellow), which were produced using three photographs of the same object, each for a particular color of these three, was one more highlight of the exposition. The metallic plates for etching with the initial images produced by «light-paintings» were also presented. The exhibition featured also photo cameras and different accessories for «light-painting» by such companies as Jochim and Co., Bruno Zenger and Co., I.I. Karpov and Puro. To be continued.
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