Russia "in true colors". The Presidential Library illustrates the photographer Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky was born on August 30, 1863. A chemical scientist, talented inventor, publisher, educator and public figure, he became famous primarily as a pioneer of color photography, author of an amazing collection of more than 1,500 photographs.

Using the technical basis for color photography, created by the German professor Adolf Mite, Prokudin-Gorsky in 1902 developed a photographic emulsion that provided the most perfect reproduction of natural colors. According to Svetlana Garanina, a leading Russian specialist in the work of the photographer in the publication Scientist, Inventor, Photographer in the magazine Sovietskoye Photo on February 4, 1905, Prokudin-Gorsky spoke at the Russian Technical Society and for the first time demonstrated on the screen 70 transparencies made by him from his own color photographs. Different in content (winter landscapes, genre paintings, the effects of the setting sun), they amazed the photographers with "the faithfulness of conveying the bright colors of nature and caused cheers and applause".

Inspired by his success, the photographer is also engaged in portrait photography: in 1908 he created the famous first color photograph of Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. Prokudin-Gorsky is beginning to believe more and more in the great purpose of color photography: “The only way to show and prove to Russian youth, already forgetting or not seeing their great Motherland at all, all the power, all the significance, all the greatness of Russia, and by this to induce the much-needed national consciousness, - this is to show its beauty and riches on the screen as they really were in nature, that is, in true colors”, - Svetlana Garanina quotes notes from Prokudin-Gorsky's personal archives stored in Paris in the article Sergei Prokudin-Gorskiy: to the publication of materials from the family archive.

Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky begins to make his dream come true, but faces difficulties. In the video dedicated to him by Vladimir Meletin Russia in Color (2010), available on the Presidential Library's portal, the words from the notes of the photographer are heard: “Systematic photography was completely inaccessible for a private person at the beginning of the century, since access to many places was very difficult - a lot of all sorts of permits from various departments were required, while in others photography was completely prohibited for fear of espionage. All this, due to the huge costs associated with such work, did not allow me to start realizing my dream. Fortunately for me, fate has resolved my difficulties".

This fate was the interest in his works of the royal family, who were fond of photography. After the photographer's visit to Tsarskoe Selo, to the emperor's residence in the Alexander Palace, Nicholas II wrote in his diary on May 3, 1909: "In the evening, Professor Prokudin-Gorsky made an interesting report on photography in paints and showed many beautiful pictures".

Subsequently, already in exile, according to the filmmakers, Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky recalled: “I was given a Pullman carriage, specially equipped according to my instructions, by the highest order. A wonderful laboratory was set up there, turning at will from light to dark, for performing work on the way and in parking lots. For work on the waterways, depending on the possibilities, the ministry provided me with a separate, specially equipped steamer with a full crew.

First of all, the sovereign outlined the entire Mariinsky waterway for filming, and my attention was drawn, besides other monuments of antiquity, especially to the monuments of the Petrine era, since my first trip took place in the year of the anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg". The outstanding enterprise was financed in part: “Travel for me and my employees on all railways in Russia, on waterways was completely free, and also the maintenance of a carriage and a steamer with the whole team. But beyond that, there was no question of any money. And I believed that the opportunities provided to me sufficiently move me along the path of achieving my task..."  

This was followed by three more successful expeditions. Svetlana Garanina in her article Review of the sources of the creative heritage of S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944) (2001) quotes the photographer: “The following were served: 1) the Mariinsky waterway; 2) Turkestan; 3) Bukhara (old); 4) the Urals in relation to fisheries; 5) The whole Chusovaya river from the source; 6) Volga from its source to Nizhny Novgorod; 7) Monuments associated with the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov; 8) Caucasus and Dagestan region; 9) Mugalskaya steppe; 10) Locations associated with memories of the Patriotic War of 1812; 11) Murmansk railway track .."

Garanina also gives a description of all the difficulties of the work: “The photographs had to be taken in the most varied and often very difficult conditions, and then in the evening it was necessary to develop the car in the laboratory, and sometimes the work dragged on until late at night, especially if the weather was unfavorable, and it was necessary to find out won't it be necessary to repeat the shooting..."  

The result of this hard work was grandiose and unique. Garanina's article Outstanding Photographer contains his assessment by the photographer himself: “For six years of work, I have taken several thousand photographs. This collection is of great interest both in its diversity and in importance at the present time, especially when many of the most valuable monuments have been destroyed. In addition, all photographs, without exception, are made to be reproduced in true colors, which gives them the value of authentic documents and thus makes them much more important than ordinary photographs".

The film Russia in Color tells about the further difficult fate of the archive. Prokudin-Gorsky, who went into exile, managed to take the negatives to Paris. According to an eyewitness, “in the basement, among the dust, there were boxes, the boxes contained these plates, glass plates. Then the children of Prokudin-Gorsky decided - the opportunity came - to sell these records, they sold them in 1948 to Americans for 3,500 dollars". US Library of Congress Department Director Harrold Like explains in the film: “What we bought was 1,903 glass negatives and 12 albums with black and white prints. The collection lay in the photography department for several decades before being processed. These fresh, amazing images seem to have been taken yesterday".

In 2001, all images were scanned. In 2010, the US Library of Congress donated to the Presidential Library’s electronic repository, devoted the collection of materials to Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944), almost 2000 digitized color photographs of Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky. The master's legacy returned to his homeland, once captured by him "in true colors".