Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky
1863 – 1944
The Russian Empire in colour, a decade before the Revolution
About Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky
Sergey Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky (the Library of Congress spells the name Prokudin-Gorskii) was born in 1863 in Vladimir Province, in the heart of old Russia. The Library of Congress gives his birthplace as Murom, correcting an older belief that he was born in St. Petersburg. In the late 1880s he studied painting and chemistry, the latter under Dmitri Mendeleev, and he continued his training in Berlin and Paris. In 1890 he married…
Read full biography →From the Collection
The Emir of Bukhara (Alim Khan), Bukhara
1911
Isfandiyar, Khan of the Russian protectorate of Khorezm…
1910
Zindan (prison), with inmates looking out through the bars…
1905
Bashkir Switchman on the Railway
1910
Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Lodeynoye Pole
1915
Monument to Peter the Great by the Cathedral on the Svir…
1915
Notable Works
The Emir of Bukhara (Alim Khan)
Alim Khan, the Emir of Bukhara, poses solemnly for his portrait in 1911, shortly after his accession, in a robe of brilliant colour. Bukhara had been a vassal state of the Russian Empire since the…
Browse the collection →Self-Portrait by a River near Batumi
Prokudin-Gorsky himself, in suit and hat, sits on a rock beside a mountain river in the village of Orto-Batum near Batumi on the Black Sea coast. It is one of several plates in the collection in…
Browse the collection →Pinkhus Karlinsky, 84, Supervisor of the Chernigov Floodgate
Made on the 1909 trip along the Mariinsky canal system, this portrait shows Pinkhus Karlinsky, supervisor of the Chernigov floodgate, standing by a dock on the canal system. In his album…
Browse the collection →Timeline
Born in Vladimir Province, Russia (the Library of Congress gives Murom)
After studying painting and chemistry (the latter under Mendeleev) in the late 1880s, continues his studies in Berlin and Paris through 1891
Marries Anna Lavrova; apprentices in photochemical laboratories and studies the work of Miethe and Maumene
Begins presenting his photographic research to the Imperial Russian Technical Society
Exhibits black-and-white photography at the Paris Exposition