ROSPHOTO presents an exhibition project dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Empress Catherine II. The exhibition brings together a series of works by Elena Karusaar, a Leningrad photographer and still photographer at the Lenfilm film studio.

ROSPHOTO preserves an extensive archive of Elena Karusaar’s photographs. The exhibition features only a selection from this unique collection, offering visitors an opportunity to discover how her work continues the traditions of the Leningrad school of film photography.

Elena Karusaar (1946–2021) was born in Leningrad. She graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Cinema Engineers with a degree in sound engineering. Beginning in the 1970s, she worked as an assistant sound engineer at Lenfilm while simultaneously photographing actors and film crews during production. It was during this period that her distinctive understanding of the expressive possibilities of photography began to take shape.

In 1975, Elena Karusaar joined the staff of Lenfilm as a senior still photographer. An important influence on the development of her artistic style came from renowned film directors Ilya Averbakh, Dinara Asanova, and Dmitry Dolinin, as well as Sergei Parajanov, with whom she collaborated over the years at the Georgia-Film studio.

In cinema, the image of a historical figure is not reproduced literally but is recreated through the means of artistic storytelling. As it acquires a new life on screen, it gradually becomes established in the viewer’s perception as a recognizable and enduring image.

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This process unfolds throughout every stage of filmmaking — from photographic screen tests and pre-production work to the search for the right acting interpretations and the construction of individual scenes. The photographs presented in the exhibition reveal this creative process, documenting the transformation of historical memory into cinematic imagery.

Karusaar’s photographs often convey more than the corresponding scenes in the films themselves. Distinguished by carefully composed mise-en-scène and a dramatic structure of their own, they function as independent artistic works.

In her approach to historical drama, particular importance is given to the environment surrounding the characters: the richness of fabrics, authentic costume and set details, and the variety of textures characteristic of the eighteenth century. Formal portraits of Empress Catherine II, recurring visual motifs, mirrored reflections of characters, and the distinctive dynamism of masquerades and court festivities are presented not so much as finished film stills but rather as attempts to capture and communicate the atmosphere of a film still in the process of becoming.

The exhibition features photographs documenting the filmmaking process as well as scenes from The Royal Hunt captured by Elena Karusaar. An important part of the display is devoted to screen tests featuring renowned actors, including Svetlana Kryuchkova, Oleg Tabakov, Mikhail Kononov, and others.

ROSPHOTO’s exhibition project explores the image of the Russian Empress through the lens of a gifted photographer and the visual language of cinema, offering a unique perspective on the creation of historical imagery on screen.

ROSPHOTO extends its gratitude to the Lenfilm Film Studio for its informational support of the exhibition project and for providing texts by Vitaly Melnikov.