Journeys through the Russian Empire

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This project features around four hundred photographs, providing historical context while comparing William Brumfield's contemporary images of Russian churches and locations with those captured by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky, an early-20th-century pioneer of color photography. Brumfield evaluates the preservation of Russia's architectural heritage and the allure and challenges of interpreting Prokudin-Gorsky's vivid photographs as a revival of Russia's lost past. He explores the enthusiastic Russian response to the recently digitized Prokudin-Gorsky collection, questioning the nostalgic views that portray these images as a depiction of an idyllic pre-Soviet Russia, while overlooking the imperial violence preceding the revolution. Prokudin-Gorsky aimed to showcase the cultural and ethnic diversity of the Russian Empire, using color photography to communicate the richness of its history and culture. After fleeing Russia in 1918 with his glass negatives, his collection was acquired by the Library of Congress. Brumfield, with his experience in photographing Russian architectural monuments, was invited to catalog and exhibit these photographs. Through this work, he discovered the unexpected intersections of their journeys across Russia. His own photographic endeavors intensified during the late 1980s, capturing the remnants of Russia's architectural legacy and its historical and spiritual narratives. This project will engage scholars, s