K. Solovieva, 2011; The Russian Museum oI Ethnography, St. Petersburg, 2012, www.ethnomuseum.

ru
!" $%&%'(%')
RUSSIAN ETHNOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHY
OF THE 19TH CENTURY AND ORIENTALISM
Large-scale and versatile ardour Ior the East, born in Eu-
rope at the turn oI the 18th and 19th centuries, can equally
be ascribed to the Russian culture as well. Historically,
however, the relationships oI Russia and the East had their
own peculiarities: its empire included nations that pro-
Iessed Buddhism and Islam, cultural proximity oI ancient
eastern tradition was an integral part oI Russian selI-con-
sciousness. In Russia, where military developments un-
Iolded directly at the borders oI or on the territory oI the
empire, the interpretation oI the eastern theme always
possessed a great amount oI 'involvement, a shade oI
personal participation and attitude.
In the Russian cultural tradition oI the frst halI oI the
19th century the East was associated with the Caucasus.
The expansion oI Russian borders conditioned not only
the need Ior accounting and development oI natural re-
sources, drawing geographical maps oI various territories
or obtaining more specifc inIormation on those, but also
the search Ior the principles oI systematization oI data
about the peoples inhabiting those territories. That was
exactly the period, when the application oI photography
was starting, Ior the purpose oI acquisition oI objective
data in various branches oI natural sciences and trustwor-
thy fxation oI national living was starting. The gradual
spread oI the technology oI shooting on location made it
possible to put together a visual description oI one oI the
most interesting regions oI Europe in ethnographic realm;
the possibility oI documentary communication emerged
Ior the frst time |1|. Painters oI battle scenes, on high
demand in the frst halI oI the 19th century, gradually lose
their ground. Only Vasili Vereshchagin, an unsurpassed
expert in reporting sketching and special immersion into
history, customs, colours and favours oI the oriental
world, works actively and paints Irom nature.
1851 saw the opening oI the Caucasian Department
oI the Russian Geographic Society, Iounded in 1845 ac-
cording to the high injunction oI Emperor Nicholas I, and
by and by a special Department oI Photography under the
General StaII oI the Caucasian Army. Among the tasks oI
photographers, the graduates oI the Military School oI To-
pographers, where they acquired knowledge oI the histo-
ry, geography and geology oI the Caucasus and photogra-
phy, was flming oI natural landscape, living and ways oI
liIe oI various peoples. The names oI many oI those, who
worked in the 50s and the 60s oI the 19th century, remain
unknown: submitting to the articles oI war they did their
work proIessionally and within the Irameworks oI their
designated duties. There is no doubt that the new way oI
reality transmission was more accessible and inexpensive
than the sketches oI artists; and it met not only military
interests, but was also directly related to scientifc needs:
naturalists, archaeologists and travellers turned to photog-
raphy. It was exactly during that particular time that pho-
tographs and photography albums emerged: Irom popular
daguerreotypes oI the mountain views oI the Caucasus
oI Sergey L'vovich Levitski to whole photographic se-
ries Iamous portraits oI horsemen fghters (dzhigits) oI
Andre Ivanovich Denier, and landscape and architectural
photographs oI the lands around the Caspian Sea and the
regions oI Transcaucasia oI such photographers as Petrov,
Novikov and Edward Westly. One oI the rare samples oI
'ethnographic daguerreotypes oI the prominent Austrian
artist JoseI Weninger, who operated in the mid 1840s in
Petersburg, is kept in the Russian Ethnographic Museum:
a group portrait oI Kazakhs |2| (hg. 1).
In the 40s and 50s oI the 19th century the frst at-
tempts at more systematic study oI Central Asia were
undertaken. One oI the participants oI the diplomatic em-
bassy to Bukhara oI 18411842, Nikola Vladimirovich
Khanykov, on his return authored a book titled 'The De-
scription oI the Bukhara Khanate, acknowledged as the
best work in the scientifc community and soon translated
into English, German and French languages. In 1857 he
noted in his substantiation oI the scientifc report planned
that great scientifc signifcance is assigned to histori-
cal, ethnographic and philological survey, which should
have 'consequences Ior success in science as well as in
industry |3|. In 1858 by order oI the government the
prominent orientalist headed the scientifc mission to the
Persian province oI Khursn. At the same time a mili-
tary and diplomatic mission oI Colonel Nikola Pavlovich
Ignat'ev set out in 1858 to Khwa and Bukhr. A spe-
cialist in photographic art, second lieutenant oI artillery
Anton Stepanovich Murenko took part in the mission. The
album titled 'From Orenburg to Bukhara via Khiva. The
Photography oI Second Lieutenant oI Artillery Muren-
ko, which gathered together the materials oI the expedi-
tion, the board oI the Imperial Russian Geographical So-
34 !"#$%&'()*" ,'(-#*".(". VOL. 17 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2011
*
+
,
"

-
K. SOLOVIEVA. Russian Ethnographic Photographv 35
*
+
,
"

.
36 !"#$%&'()*" ,'(-#*".(". VOL. 17 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2011
*+," /
K. SOLOVIEVA. Russian Ethnographic Photographv 37
ciety (IRGO) awarded a small silver medal 'For UseIul
EIIorts. That was the frst recognition oI the scientifc
value oI the photographs on Central Asia |4|.
Simultaneously, in 18561858, a notable public fg-
ure, geographer Ptr Petrovich Semnov (later known as
Semnov-Tian-Shanski), who also noted close ties be-
tween scientifc survey and practical needs oI the Rus-
sian empire in Central Asia, initiated the study oI Tar-
bagatay, Alatau, Lake Issyk Kul and mountain regions
oI Tien-Shan. In 1857 Nikola Alekseevich Severtsov,
a prominent ethnographer, geologist and traveller, began
his long-term study oI Turkestn, Pmr. Beginning in
the 60s large-scale scientifc expeditions were organized
to Central Asian countries, which to a large extent was
conditioned by the annexation oI Kazakh lands to Russia.
In 1864 Russian troops invaded the Khanate oI Khoqand
and seized Tshkent. The attempts oI amir oI Bukhr to
intervene into the mentioned events led to his deIeat and
the taking oI Samarqand in 1868, as a result oI which the
Bukhr amir Iell into vassalage to Russia. Uncommonly
various views (Irom the sands oI deserts to the bloom-
ing valleys oI mountain rivers), liIe oI people groups so
unIamiliar to Europe, interesting monuments oI ancient
culture and architecture all oI these became now pos-
sible to portray not by means oI paintings and drawings oI
participants oI military campaigns, but also by means oI
photographic materials oI scientifc expeditions.
Large-scale tasks Iacing photography in its application
to sciences, and merits and shortcomings oI photography
as an art Iorm were brought out in the frst theoretical work
entitled 'Photography and Gravure, written by a Iamous
supporter oI democratic ideas in art, progressive public
fgure and art critic, Vladimir Vasil'evich Stasov |5|. And,
iI the Iamous critic at frst assigned photography only an
applied role, then later, in the 70s, he recognized it as an
integral part and an individual area oI art |6|.
ThereIore, successIul usage oI photography in the
1860s opened a new era in the refection oI realities and
identity oI cultures oI various people groups. A special
place here was allotted Ior the genre oI ethnographic
photography. The photographs, mainly the portraits oI
the peoples oI the Russian Empire, exhibited at the Eth-
nographic exhibition in 1867 in Moscow, became a real
discovery Ior Russian community. The idea oI the exhi-
bition to a large extent was conditioned by public and
political situation, which emerged under the infuence oI
large-scale reIorms oI the 60s in the 19th century. It was
planned to display distinctive cultures oI over 80 peoples
oI the Russian Empire, including that oI Kazakhs oI Small
and Mid-size Horde (about 60 photographs) and the na-
tions oI the Caucasus (over 300 photographs) |7|.
The preparation Ior the exhibition lasted Ior about
three years; aIterwards the photographs were actively
used in manuIacturing 'fgures mannequins, which
were to demonstrate clothing. The exhibits were aIfliated
with the Rumiantsev Public Museum as 'Dashkov Ethno-
graphic Museum, in honour oI the frst director Vasili
Andreevich Dashkov, who later donated great sums oI
money to its development. The mannequins set out at the
exhibition and displaying various costumes were photo-
graphed by Danish photographer Thorvald Andreevich
Mitreuter, collaborating with the Dashkov Ethnographic
Museum. The photographs, made on salted papers, were
coloured with watercolours and placed in passe-partout,
probably, by Maria Mitreuter, the owner oI her own pho-
tographic studio; later she actually became the wiIe oI the
photographer. There is no doubt that the exhibition, Ior
the frst displaying such a vast panorama oI liIe oI vari-
ous peoples oI Russia, made its own contribution into the
development oI the Oriental theme in the Russian artistic
tradition.
From the very establishment oI Ethnographic Depart-
ment oI the Russian Museum in 1902 in St. Petersburg
(currently known as Russian Ethnographic Museum) at-
tached great importance to the collection oI documentary
materials, frst oI all, photographs: collections on the cul-
tures oI the nations oI Central Asia and the Caucasus Irom
the late 19th to the early 20th centuries number about
10,000 photographs (plate 1).
The museum collections have works oI such notable
photographers oI the Caucasus as Vladimir (?) Barkanov,
Alexander Karlovich Engel', F. Hordet, and albums oI
Dmitri Nikitin Irom the Caucasian Iront oI 18771878,
Dmitri Ivanovich Ermakov (hg. 2), and oI such scientists
as Konstantin Alexandrovich Inostrantsev and Alexan-
der Alexandrovich Miller. An unparalleled artistic image
oI the Caucasus at the turn oI the 19th and 20th centu-
ry, a distinctive chronicle oI human liIe oI several gen-
erations was created by the oldest Russian photographer
Ermakov, whose collection numbers about 1,200 pho-
tographs. Alexander Kazimirovich Serzhputovski, who
worked according to the program oI A. A. Miller, set up
in 19101911 in the regions oI Western Daghestan, that
are hard to access, among the peoples oI Avarian lan-
guage Iamily was one oI those men, to whom the world
is greatly indebted he documentarily confrmed the
existence oI small population ethnic groups, such as the
Bezhta, the Hinukh, the Botlikh, the Karatins and other
ones (hgs. 34).
A signifcant role in political consolidation oI Rus-
sia in Central Asia by means oI getting acquainted with
the Central Asian territories annexed in the 60s oI the
19th century was played by the output oI the combined
publication the 'Turkestan Album, prepared by the
order oI the Turkestan governor-general Konstantin Petro-
vich von KauIman, the abridged versions oI two volumes
and some individual pages are kept in the RME |8|. The
album became an indicative event: materials published
Ior a long time defned the principles oI refecting the
liIe oI people groups oI Central Asia. The photographing
was done by a group oI photographers in the course oI
two years under the direction oI Alexander Ludwigovich
Kuhn, the orientalist researcher who served in the region
oI Turkestn; in 1872 the work was fnished. It is known
that the majority oI photographs belong to photographer
Nikola Nekhoroshev, the owner oI a photographic studio
in Tshkent, and to military photographer second lieuten-
ant G. Krivcov, who mostly photographed views and pat-
terns oI Khwa and Khoqand. Four volumes oI 'Turke-
stan Album (archaeological, ethnographical, enterprise
and historical), containing over 1,200 photographs, were
published in several copies (according to various sources
38 !"#$%&'()*" ,'(-#*".(". VOL. 17 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2011
there were three, Iour, six and seven, as well as it is known
about mini versions, intended Ior scientifc purposes), and
represented the Russian Department oI the Parisian Inter-
national Geographical Exhibition oI 1875 |9| (hgs. 56).
The principles oI photographing, developed by the
creators oI the 'Turkestan Album, Iound their extension
in unique works made by a remarkable photographer (an
artist by training), well-known researcher, the Iounder oI
the methodology oI ethnographic photography, Samuel
Martynovich Dudin, in the course oI his travels to Central
Asia in 19001902 (the museum's collection numbers
over 1,800 oI his photographs). In his concluding work
on the subject oI ethnographic photography the scholar
noted that
the feld that is liable to photographic fxing is almost as vast
and boundless as the feld oI an artist. And a photographer
would also have the advantage oI swiIt work process and fx-
ing, which are absolutely not accessible to the latter. and the
material, delivered by a photographer, will have all the advan-
tages oI documentality, unbiased and accurate protocol |10|.
The art oI S. M. Dudin stands out on account oI its docu-
mentality, accuracy and artistic expressiveness in commu-
nicating the bright world oI the culture oI nomads, craIts-
men and the peculiar oriental Iragrance.
A special role oI photography as a phenomenon,
which records and refects certain reality (over 200 pho-
tographers and photographic studios operated in the Cau-
casus and Central Asia beIore 1918) |11|, determined the
uniqueness oI Russian museum collection as a mighty
means oI refecting peculiarities oI ethnographic diversity
and peculiarity oI Russia |12|. Photographic collections
visibly confrm that the Russian society at large did not
necessarily perceive the East as its colony. Documentary
accuracy, high inIormational content, exceptional artistic
expressiveness oI photographic materials was largely de-
fned by the communication oI the visual environment,
precisely located, and Iounded, frst oI all, upon the
brilliant knowledge oI cultures and traditions oI people
groups, where Muslim images organically neighboured
with the Christian world.
N o t e s
1. Photographv in Russia 18401940, ed. by D. Eliot (London, 1992); V. A. Zakharov, 'Lermontov na Kavkaze i problemy ori-
entalizma ('Lermontov in the Caucasus and the Problems oI Orientalism), Prostranstvo i vremia v mirovoi politike i me:hdunarod-
nvkh otnosheniiakh. Materialv 4-go Konventa RAMI VIII (Moscow, 2007), pp. 2845; G. V. Dluzhnevskaia, Istoriko-arkheolog-
icheskoe nasledie A:iatskoi Rossii v fotodokumentakh vtoroi polovinv XIX pervoi polovinv XX vv. (po fondam nauchnogo arkhiva
Instituta istorii materialnoi kulturv RAN) (Historical and Archaeological Heritage oI Asian Russia in Documentary Photographs oI
the Second HalI oI the 19th and the First HalI oI the 20th Centuries (Based on the Stocks oI the Scientifc Archive oI the Institute oI
the History oI the Material Culture oI RAS). Abstract oI doctoral thesis (St. Petersburg, 2008); E. V. Barkhatova, Russkaia svetopis.
Pervvi vek fotoiskusstva (18391914) (Russian Photography. The First Century oI Photographic Art (18391914)) (St. Petersburg,
2009), pp. 3033.
2. RME, I. Weninger, call No. 3918-1.
3. N. A. Khalfn, Politika Rossii v Srednei A:ii (18571868) (Russian Politics in Central Asia (18571868)) (Moscow, 1960).
4. S. A. Morozov, Russkie puteshestvenniki-fotografv (Russian Travelling Photographers) (Moscow, 1953), pp. 713, 4349.
5. V. V. Stasov, Fotograhia i graviura (Photography and Gravure) (St. Petersburg, 1856).
6. Idem, Fotograhcheskie i fototipicheskie kollekcii Imperatorskoi Publichnoi biblioteki (Photographic and Phototype Collec-
tions oI the Imperial Public Library) (St. Petersburg, 1885), p. 40.
7. For Iurther details see K. Iu. Solovyova, 'Obrazy narodov Rossisko Imperii 1860-kh godov (po materialam Etnografchesko
vystavki 1867 goda) ('Images oI Peoples oI the Russian Empire oI the 1860s (according to the materials oI the Ethnographic exhi-
bition in 1867), Slaviane Evropv i narodv Rossii. K 140-letiiu Pervoi etnograhcheskoi vvstavki 1867 goda (St. Petersburg, 2008),
pp. 5883.
8. RME, call Nos. 3921, 5434, 10128.
9. H. S. Sonntag, 'Photography & Mapping Russian Conquest in Central Asia: Early Albums, Encounters, & Exhibitions 1866
1876, Journee dEtude Centrasiatique. Atelier 3. Histoire du Turkestan russe et du Xinfiang (Oct. 26, 2007). http://www.loc.gov/rr/
print/coll/287turkestan.html.
10. S. M. Dudin, 'Fotografia v etnografcheskikh poezdkakh ('Photography in Ethnographic Journeys), Ka:anskii mu:einvi vest-
nik III (1929), pp. 3153.
11. M. Ia. Zhur, Fotografv i fotograhcheskie atele v Rossiiskoi Imperii (do 1918 goda). Katalog-uka:atel (Photographers and Pho-
tographic Studios in the Russian Empire (beIore 1918). Catalogue-Index). http://www.rusalbom.ru/Ioto-atelie.html.
12. These are collections preserved today in Kunstkamera (MAE RAS), RME, Russian Geographic Society, Institute Ior the History
oI Material Culture oI RAS, National Library OI Russia.
I l l u s t r a t i o n s
*0%12 3%'405
Plate 1. T. A. Mitreuter, M. I. Mitreuter, A Girl and a Woman in Glad Rags. Imprint on salt paper, wa-
tercolour. Kazakhs, 1870ies. RME, call No. 8764-1493. Courtesy oI the Museum.
K. SOLOVIEVA. Russian Ethnographic Photographv 39
*+," 6
40 !"#$%&'()*" ,'(-#*".(". VOL. 17 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2011
*
+
,
"

7
K. SOLOVIEVA. Russian Ethnographic Photographv 41
*
+
,
"

8
42 !"#$%&'()*" ,'(-#*".(". VOL. 17 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2011
91:+;4 2<4 24=25
Fig. 1. J. Weninger, A Group oI Men in Glad Rags. The daguerreotype. Kazakhs, 1840s. On the
reverse side the inscription: 'I. Weninger. Peintre de Portraits. Grande Morskoi maison. Person
No. 137. RME, call No 3918-1. Courtesy oI the Museum.
Fig. 2. D. I. Ermakov, Sorting of Carpets. Albumin print. Azerbaijanis, end oI the 19th century. RME,
call No. 213-118. Courtesy oI the Museum.
Fig. 3. A. K. Serzhputovski, A Girl. Gelatin print. Didoi, 1910. Materials oI the expedition by Di-
vision oI the Russian Museum oI Ethnography to Daghestan, the Andean region. RME, call
No. 2369-24. Courtesy oI the Museum.
Fig. 4. Idem, At the Hitching Post. Gelatin print. Karatins, 1911. Materials oI the expedition by Di-
vision oI the Russian Museum oI Ethnography to Daghestan, the Andean region. RME, call
No. 2371-5. Courtesy oI the Museum.
Fig. 5. Market Square in the Citv of Awliva-ata. Imprint on salt paper. 186070-ies. Folio Irom the
'Turkestan Album. RME, call No. 5434-40. Courtesy oI the Museum.
Fig. 6. Migration of the Shepherds Familv. Imprint on salt paper. 186070-ies. Folio Irom the 'Turke-
stan Album. RME, call No. 10128-26. Courtesy oI the Museum.