The Prokudin-Gorskii collection

[altariel]

I sometimes joke that a lot of history happened in black and white. And that round about the turn of the century, people moved in a funny, jerky way.

shezan, in a series of terrific posts, has saved me the effort of writing about the plates from the collection of Mikhail Prokudin Gorskii. Between 1905 and 1915, Gorskii travelled across imperial Russia, taking pictures. It's only in the past few years that these plates have been colourized. They are remarkable.

The following links lead to very big pictures. shezan starts with a summary of Prokudin Gorskii's life in this post. The colours in these pictures are startling. More here, with this great insight: "The result is this calm, reflective view of the land and its inhabitants. It is the reverse of jingoistic imperialism; landscape as horizon rather than frontier."

Comments

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Amazingly crisp and vivid images

[altariel.livejournal.com]

They're pretty stunning. Some of the effects remind me of Jack Cardiff's cinematography.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you very much for pointing out such an unusual post! I had never heard of this photo collection before, but I am very impressed. The quality of these pictures is almost surreal if you are used to thinking about the past in sepia tones. I mean in my mind's eye even the Second World War takes place in black and white, and my image of time before WWI is more akin to a faded family photograph. And, all of a sudden, impressions from imperial Russia are so vivid and clear that one could almost touch the people in the pictures... Fascinating and strange.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I mean in my mind's eye even the Second World War takes place in black and white, and my image of time before WWI is more akin to a faded family photograph.

Yes, I know just what you mean. And yet the vibrancy of, say, a Holbein makes me picture that period of history very much in colour.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

And yet the vibrancy of, say, a Holbein makes me picture that period of history very much in colour.

Yeah, somehow Queen Elizabeth (the First, not the Second :D) shows up in my imagination in the splendid colours of a portrait by Nicholas Hilliard, whereas Queen Victoria will always be that hideous, serious-looking elderly lady to me, whose photograph once I saw in a school textbook. Pretty unfair, considering the fact that Victoria must have been quite beautiful in her youth, while Elizabeth never had to worry about the advent of a) old age and b) photorealism.

(BTW: Thanks for friending me! I've also put you on my friends' list now -- just don't expect to read anything interesting in my LJ... I should warn you that I use my account mainly for commenting in other people's journals, mostly unbidden. ;))

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it was OK to friend you! I thought you might be interested in seeing Withered Tree: I'm keeping that friends-locked for the moment while I'm writing it, so that I can go back and smooth it over before putting it out for wider consumption.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

I thought you might be interested in seeing 'Withered Tree': Sure I am. :) I had already begun to wonder how I had managed to overlook that entry, until it occurred to me that it was friends-locked. So thanks again -- even if I hate reading WiPs: The "But-how-does-the-story-go-on/end?" tension is always killing me. ;)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Well, I know how it ends, but that's probably not much consolation, LOL!

[hafren.livejournal.com]

When my son was four, and had been looking at his grandmother's photos, he asked why things had all been brown when she was young (he didn't know the word sepia).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you found them interesting.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That is amazing and fascinating. Thank you so much. I shall enjoy exploring the sites shezan mentions. Especially stunning are the rabbi and emir photos--I had no idea such sumptuous dyes were used in those days.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Glad they're of interest. I thought the colours in those two pictures in particular were remarkable.

[michaelschuster.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing out that site to us, the LJ community!

The lack of colour does influence our perception of late 19th and early 20th century history. I know how surprised I was when I first saw a colour picture of Hitler in a newspaper - I'd been used to seeing photos from the early 1900s in black and white.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you found the site interesting. I remember that exact same surprise at seeing colour pictures - and, even more, colour film footage - of Hitler.