The turn of centuries captured by Karl Bulla and his sons: The Presidential library to digitize over two hundred pictures of renowned photographers

The Karl Bulla Historical Photography Foundation has been providing materials from its archives to the Presidential Library. “Karl Bulla. The First Photojournalist in Russia” book was the first to become part of the Presidential Library’s collections, followed by the photo album “The Bulla Dynasty: Karl, Alexander, Viktor, Yuri”. Through the efforts to promote  partnership, the foundation offered for digitization 310 photo portraits of St. Petersburg  residents of the early 20th century, made in numerous photo studios of St. Petersburg. While building up the collection, focused on sport in Russia, twenty-nine digitized photographs, capturing the sports events in our city – competitions, photos of teams, prominent figures of the sports movement in the country between 1906 – 1920’s, entered the electronic collections. Currently, the Presidential Library keeps 226 copies of photographs of Karl Bulla and his sons made in different periods of time, which are soon to be converted in the electronic form.

The pictures are unique not only in respect to their artistic merits, but also to the rare gift of the "first photojournalist" to turn up in the right place at the right moment and capture both grand and momentous events, and dramatic events in the life of Russia. Thus, the youngest of the sons, junior officer Viktor Bulla, had a chance to capture the shipwreck of the Varyag cruiser, which became a part of the mournful “martyrology” of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) records. One of the most powerful ships of that time is displayed in the cloud of fire and smoke on its way back after the battle; he portrayed the ship’s last minutes in the waters of the Yellow Sea near the Korean port of Chemulpo; the next morning the "skeleton" of the ship’s sunken side - fragments of wood and metal - was seen along the coast.

Another dramatic photo, taken by the photographer - "The injured Russian sailors on board steam boat of the French cruiser “Paskal", reads the caption of the photo, published in Niva magazine in 1904.

The collection acquired by the Presidential Library, made up the gallery of pictures, which turned the spotlight on the life of the northern city, in particular, Nevsky Prospekt, 54, the address of the Bulla studio; the magnificent building of the Academy of Arts; the religious procession from the church of His Imperial Majesty's own infantry regiment of June 24, 1910. Karl Karlovich captured almost all the events that happened in the city: celebrations, fires and floods, as well as the everyday life and work of lamplighters…

For almost two years the photographer had been preparing for the photo shooting, featuring Leo Tolstoy and his family in Yasnaya Polyana. It was held in 1908, and today the whole world has the opportunity to see Count Tolstoy in the countryside, while playing chess, among his kith and kin: portraits of Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sofya Andreevna, daughter Alexandra, as well as pictures of the funeral of the great writer are soon to be digitized.

The portrait gallery of the photos received for digitization is also impressive: you can see Repin, sitting on a rock barefoot near the bay with a compact palette while sketching a coastal landscape; sad Chekhov with his famous eyeglasses, sitting leaning on a table with carved legs ...

Bulla brothers learned a lot from their father, they finished internship in Germany. Masters of both a camera and a movie camera, they were constantly in the thick of the events and were the witnesses of the both great and terrible turning epoch. The younger brother, Viktor Bulla, became well-known as a war photojournalist during the Russo-Japanese War; the elder brother, Alexander, captured World War I. Both were awarded medals for bravery and valor at the front, and later they showed courage as photo reporters of the revolutionary year of 1917. The photographs provided to the Presidential Library feature the picture "March 23, 1917, the day of the funeral of the revolution victims", which inspired Pavel Filonov to create "Formula of the Revolution” paintings.

The Soviet period is portrayed by Karl Bulla’s sons, their photographs reflect many collisions of that time: "S.M. Kirov with public representatives of Leningrad in Palace Square, 1931"; "The link of the army and navy. At the opening of the House of the Army and Navy in Leningrad "; “Bolshevik” collective farm’s bazaar is captured in great detail.

The large-scale project of digitization of the photographic legacy of the Bulla Dynasty is expected to go on, promoted by the creative cooperation between the Karl Bulla Historical Photography Foundation and the Presidential Library, which has been consolidated and developed.