New additions to Presidential Library's collection. First hundred years of photography in Russia

19 August marks World Photography Day. In anticipation of this date, the Presidential Library invites readers to learn with the book Essays on the History of Photography in the USSR, which has recently been added to the institution's collection. The publication tells the story of the first steps of the greatest invention of the 19th century.

"Photography democratises art, and above all that area which is democratic in its very essence: the beauty of nature," wrote the famous scientist and doctor of botany Kliment Timiryazev. He was convinced that the time would come when people would roam the forests and fields not with guns, but with cameras, in order to "admire nature and, if possible, take away with them its most artistic creations."

The fact that this specialist in plant physiology and leading researcher in photosynthesis never parted with his camera and was even an honorary member of the Russian Photographic Society can be learned from an electronic copy of the book by documentary filmmaker Grigory Boltansky, Essays on the History of Photography in the USSR (1939), which has been added to the Presidential Library's collection.

A hundred years after the invention of the daguerreotype, this book became the first attempt to collect and arrange in chronological order and systematic fashion facts and information about the historical development of photography in our country. The Essays begin with an account of the discovery of photography in France and how one of the greatest inventions of the 19th century spread to Russia.

The book provides information about outstanding pioneers of Russian photography, including Sergei Levitsky, Andrei Denier, Sigismund Yurkovsky, and Andrei Karelin. You will also discover stories about the close connection between photography and the participation of scientists and artists in its development, including chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, naturalist Kliment Timiryazev, artists Ivan Kramskoy and Isaac Levitan, and many others.

The general public learned about the invention of photography – a technology that allows images to be fixed on light-sensitive material—on 19 August 1839, when a detailed report on "daguerreotype" was presented at the French Academy of Sciences.

Just two months after reports of Daguerre and Niepce's invention appeared in the Russian press, in October 1839, a certain Colonel Teremen managed to take a photograph of St. Isaac's Cathedral with "only" a 25-minute exposure. This, as Boltansky writes, "was the first report that has come down to us about the first successful Russian daguerreotype photograph."

In the same year, 1839, Sergei Levitsky, who would later be called the "patriarch of Russian photography," purchased his first daguerreotype camera. After travelling extensively throughout Europe "for the purpose of studying photography and familiarising himself with famous works of art," in 1850 he opened his own artistic "portrait daguerreotype photography" studio near Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

During his lifetime, Levitsky created an extensive gallery of portraits of writers, scientists and public figures, including a portrait of Nikolai Gogol – the only known photograph of the writer. In the late 1870s, Levitsky was officially awarded the title of "Photographer to Their Imperial Majesties". The electronic reading room of the Presidential Library displays a photograph of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna with their infant child; on the back of the photograph is the inscription: "Levitsky and Son: Photographers to Their Imperial Majesties."

The environment and working conditions of 19th-century portrait photographers and the shooting process itself were so interesting that Boltansky's book has a whole section on them. The studios of the first daguerreotypists were on the top floors of buildings, and sometimes even on the roofs, to get closer to natural light. The cameras of that time did not have tripods and were placed on shelves under the studio ceiling. Therefore, the subject had to not only climb to the top of the building, but also climb onto a high platform level with the lens. Then, after assuming a certain pose as instructed by the photographer, the client had to remain motionless for 10–15 minutes while the shooting process continued.

With the advent of the improved wet collodion photographic process, studios began to resemble laboratories. They were filled with the unbearable smell of acids and liquids necessary for photography, and flashes were used for shooting. According to Boltansky, "such a studio resembled Dante's hell in miniature. After half an hour in this studio, the client could hardly catch his breath in the fresh air." In large studios, up to eight people were involved in each shoot. Two assistants rolled out carpets, set up furniture, etc. The photography process itself was divided into six stages, each of which was supervised by a specialised photographer: one was responsible for selecting the scenery, the second seated the subjects and made sure they assumed the correct poses, the third combined the necessary lighting, the fourth was in charge of setting up the camera, the fifth prepared the wet collodion plate, and only after all these preparations were complete did the sixth photographer begin his work, which was actually taking the photographs.

A separate topic touched upon in Grigory Boltansky's book is the first printed publications that popularised photography: magazines such as Svetopis, Fotograf, Fotograficheskiy Vestnik, and others.

From Essays on the History of Photography in the USSR, one can also learn little-known facts about the first achievements of Russian photographers at international exhibitions, the emergence of photojournalism, and the development of photography after the October Revolution of 1917.

Rare photographs taken by Russian photographers can be viewed in the electronic reading rooms of the Presidential Library, which are open in Russia and abroad. Information about them is available on the portal in the section "Electronic Reading Rooms".