Miracles of Photography. Recreating the photographic heritage of Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. Saint Petersburg

12 april 2003—15 june 2003

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky was born in Saint Petersburg in 1863. Having got perfect education as a chemist in Russia and abroad he devoted all his life to photography. His research in this field brought him several patents on production of colour transparencies and colour film projection. At the beginning of the 20th century Prokudin-Gorsky worked out a daring plan to make a photographic overview of the Russian Empire, which was supported by Nicholas II. Travelling by a train fitted out with special equipment and a darkened room, also having a permission guarantying him access to restricted areas, he visited eleven regions of Russia. Photographs taken by Prokudin-Gorsky give us a vivid picture of the bygone days - the Russian Empire on the eve of WWI and impending revolution. The mastery of the photographer and his thought out methods are still remarkable in their laconic accomplishment. Alongside his professional work Prokudin-Gorsky carried out extensive educational activities. His ultimate goal was to acquaint Russian schoolchildren with the enormous and diverse history and culture of the epoch of modernization of Russia through 'optical colour projections'. In 1919, after the revolution, Prokudin-Gorsky left Russia for good to reside in Paris where he died in 1944.Unique works of the master of photography were sold by his heirs to the Library of Congress in 1948. The current exhibition has the same name with the last exhibition of the photographer, which took place in the Nikolaevsky Hall of the Winter Palace in 1918. The display presents images in the form of colour photographs made by means of modern leading technologies. The exhibition of photographs by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky was prepared by the members of the Library of Congress of the USA

Exhibitions

Portraits of Count Nikolai Sheremetev: New Revelations

22 july—20 september 2021

Amerling was one of the best masters of children’s portrait of his time. The portrait of the little Count Sheremetev discovered in the State Russian Museum is the only work of the master in Russia so far. The exhibition will feature portraits of Nikolai Sheremetev made by various artists in various techniques - painting, miniature, sculpture, original and printed graphics from the collection of the State Russian Museum, the Ostankino Estate Museum (Moscow), the State Historical Museum, and the collection of T. A. Udras (Moscow).

Pavel Zhukovsky. On the 175th Anniversary of Birth

17 march—7 june 2021

The artist Pavel Vasilyevich Zhukovsky (1845-1912) was the son of the great Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky. His work is little known to art lovers today. But in the last third of the 19th century Pavel Zhukovsky was quite well known in social and cultural circles. The works of Pavel Zhukovsky bear the stamp of his passion for Italian Renaissance painting, religious and antique themes. Their execution and figurative interpretation allow us to refer the artist's work to the academic style of late European Romanticism and Symbolism.

Also in the Russian Museum

14 october—15 november 2021 > St Michael’s Castle Fyodor Dostoevsky in the Fine Arts from the State Russian Museum Collection. On the 200th Anniversary of the Writer’s Birth
9 september—15 november 2021 > Stroganov Palace Pavel Stroganov: Italian Journey

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Virtual tour of the museum complex. 2009 (Rus., Eng., Ger., Fin.)

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