History and culture: The exhibition, dedicated to the history of photograph, in Tsarskoye Selo

In the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve opened the “Tsarskoye Selo photo studio”. The unusual exposition is housed in the pavilion “Top bath” in the Catherine Park. Among the exhibits are historical photographs, uniforms, women’s dresses, furniture, as well as photo cameras and cameras from the Tsarskoye Selo photo studio that were operated until 1917.

The exhibition, organized in conjunction with the National Center of Photography “ROSPHOTO” tells of the story of the appearance of a photo studio in Tsarskoye Selo, the role of the royal court in the formation of fashion photography, as well as how the “august family” helped to increase the quality of daguerreotypes and photographs.

The emergence of art of photography refers to 1826, when the first shot, made by Joseph-Nicéphore Niepce on a tin plate appeared. In 1839, the Frenchman Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (Jacques Daguerre) published a method of producing an image on a copper plate coated with silver, which he called the daguerreotype. In Russia the flowering of daguerreotypes, received the name of “light painting”, occurred during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I.

Photographing has become a favorite pastime for the royal family, which, like any other, created a photo chronicle of her life. At a time when the report was in its infancy, the subjects could learn about the life of the royal family by the illustrations in periodicals and photographs - says chief curator of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve and curator Larissa Ballad.

The opportunity to make a family chronicle personally, to capture how children grow and mature, prompted Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna to undertake a photographic apparatus. The remaining pictures taken by them, by the maid of honor of the Empress Anna Vyrubova and other close family people, illustrate the daily lives of the Romanovs.

Due to the surviving photographic material, we are able to trace the family and the state of the imperial family events: weddings, births, military parades, visits of dignitaries. Art masters of photography of the XIX-early XX century have created an artistic image of the reign of the Romanovs, including the last emperor, whose family life is reflected in personnel photo chronicles.

In summer the photo studio moved to suburban neighborhoods and suburbs of the capital. In 1866, was issued a decree authorizing the opening of a shop in Tsarskoye Selo. Master portrait painters of the XIX - early XX century left a rich photographic legacy of their work, of course - a phenomenon of art culture.