Amazing photos from early 20th century Russia

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The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming 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.
In the early 1900s Prokudin-Gorskii formulated an ambitious plan for a photographic survey of the Russian Empire that won the support of Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909-1912, and again in 1915, he completed surveys of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation.

Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia in 1918, going first to Norway and England before settling in France. By then, the tsar and his family had been murdered and the empire that Prokudin-Gorskii so carefully documented had been destroyed. His unique images of Russia on the eve of revolution--recorded on glass plates--were purchased by the Library of Congress in 1948 from his heirs. For this exhibition, the glass plates have been scanned and, through an innovative process known as digichromatography, brilliant color images have been produced. This exhibition features a sampling of Prokudin-Gorskii's historic images produced through the new process; the digital technology that makes these superior color prints possible; and celebrates the fact that for the first time many of these wonderful images are available to the public.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87_4207__00507_.jpg

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

― Current Mood: Embarrassing Christian Laettner (Matt Chesnut), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:53 (twenty years ago)

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87_5215__01007_.jpg

This is blowing my mind.

― Current Mood: Embarrassing Christian Laettner (Matt Chesnut), Sunday, 11 December 2005 07:56 (twenty years ago)

If you want to see more like this (turn of the century color photographs) search for autochrome or autochromes.

There are always a few on Ebay cheap, too.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:01 (twenty years ago)

Thanks. I had seen a couple autochromes before, but not this vivid. It's jarring to see a time in history that I associate with grainy sepia tones instead in full-fleshed color.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87_43x__00033_.jpg

― Current Mood: Embarrassing Christian Laettner (Matt Chesnut), Sunday, 11 December 2005 08:16 (twenty years ago)

Hah, as soon as I saw the thread title I guessed it would be about Prokudin-Gorskii.

The LoC website only shows a few of his thousands of photos in colour, but they have his whole archive online in black-and-white, so it's dead easy to download his three-part black-and-white pictures yourself and convert them to a colour picture. Here are two I did myself, a couple of years ago now:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/forestpines/russian1F.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/forestpines/russian5F.jpg

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 11 December 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

they are stunning

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 11 December 2005 11:18 (twenty years ago)

Oh my gosh! Those are so beautiful. I'll send the link to my Russian friend. She'll love this.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Sunday, 11 December 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/7452/201d215c8b767fc5f554143f5320fc.gif

― retarded and gay (bato), Sunday, 11 December 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

My parents have an excellent book that was put out in the seventies from this archive collection -- some great photos but these images are even better.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 11 December 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

Wow this old thing, yes they are beautiful.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Sunday, 11 December 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

oh, man, I need to turn desire to visit Russia into actual plans. Some of it looks a lot like Canada, which I guess isn't all that surprising. I'm sure it didn't/doesn't really "feel" like Canada though - I like that idea. And what you said Matt, about how jarring it is to see colour photographs of a time usually represented in black and white. I am *this close* to wanting to write a short paper on that. (I've even got the theory down - urge to research building - I know info is just out there waiting...)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Sunday, 11 December 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

I'm a devoted russophile and would love to go, but I've heard heaps of horror stories for travelling through the motherland right now... things are apparently quite bad, graft is prevalent, poverty widespread, etc... maybe somebody here can correct me. However, I've heard that some of the former republics (especially the Baltic states) are very pleasant and affordable... also some parts of central asia are supposed to be good too.

― andy --, Monday, 12 December 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87_150x__00130_.jpg

so cool!

― andy --, Monday, 12 December 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

These are wondrous.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 12 December 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

oh man. i gotta see more of these.

my grandmother also left russia in the late teens (guess why)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

ihttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-8086.jpg

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 21:41 (twenty years ago)

I was thinking about this thread yesterday.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 21:43 (twenty years ago)

i can't believe these are real. brilliant.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 22:22 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-5251.jpg
Woah, these are so great. I'm listening to War & Peace at the moment, it's really good to have some kind of visuals of landscapes, architecture and dress to hang the story on.

Especially the pictures of peasants. Although the serfs are omnipresent in the book, it's kind of hard to relate to them. There's a lovely passage somewhere about how inexplicable fashions would rise among them for a couple of years, so that for example there would be mass transits south-east in search of warm rivers - and then that would suddenly cease and no-one would be any the wiser how, why and by whom it happened. It's kind of how I think of Russia as a whole.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 10:01 (seventeen years ago)

These are wonderful.

― Z S, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 16:24 (seventeen years ago)

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