In collaboration with the Nizhny Novgorod Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, ROSPHOTO presents a large-scale exhibition of two outstanding photographers — Andrei Karelin and Maxim Dmitriev. For the first time in St. Petersburg, visitors will be able to see more than 300 original works by the masters of early Russian light-painting from the collections of the Nizhny Novgorod Museum-Reserve and ROSPHOTO Museum.

The exhibition offers a panoramic view of life in Nizhny Novgorod, which at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries became a center of Russian photography. Both masters studied photography in the studio of Mikhail Nastyukov, court photographer to His Imperial Majesty. Dmitriev inherited the artistic landscape tradition from his senior mentor Karelin, yet over time turned toward the documentary genre.

Differences in method, subject matter, and genre distinguish the works of the two photographers — and it is precisely this contrast that makes it so compelling to view them together in one project. Both artists received recognition during their lifetimes in Russia and abroad, and their works received awards at international exhibitions.


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Andrei Karelin, a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts, became one of the founders of artistic photography in Russia. He gained renown as a master of portraiture and as the creator of “interior groups” and staged compositions. The exhibition features his portraits of high-ranking figures and prominent contemporaries, including Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich; artists Vasily Vereshchagin, Konstantin Makovsky, and Alexei Bogolyubov; as well as the scientist Dmitri Mendeleev.

A special part of the exhibition is devoted to photographs of Karelin’s own family — portraits of his wife, Olga Grigorievna (née Lermontova), and their children.

In 1869, Karelin opened a photography studio “Photography and Painting” in Nizhny Novgorod, where he created Volga landscapes, continuing the work of his teacher, Nastyukov. In 1870, the album Nizhny Novgorod, featuring his photographs hand-colored by the artist Ivan Shishkin, was presented to Emperor Alexander II.

At the famous Nizhny Novgorod Fair, Karelin had his own pavilion, where his works were successfully sold.


Дмитриев М.П. (1858 - 1948)
Дмитриев М.П. (1858 - 1948)
"Бурлак"
1895-1899 гг.
РОСФОТО КП 857/012
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Maxim Dmitriev began his career in Karelin’s studio, where he absorbed the traditions of artistic photography, but he soon developed his own style and became one of the founders of photojournalism in Russia. Early in his career, critics referred to him as the “singer of the Volga” — the photographs from his Volga series, first exhibited in 1889, astonished viewers with their artistic power.

His large-format works, created “without retouching on the negative or the print,” captured the vast expanse of water, the Zhiguli Mountains, and solitary burlaks. These photographs were rapidly reproduced as postcards and gained immense popularity.


Having spent most of his life in Nizhny Novgorod, Dmitriev documented more than half a century of the city’s history and its people. His lens captured major events: the visit of Emperor Nicholas II and his family in 1913, the opening of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, and, in the Soviet period, rallies, demonstrations, and the construction of new public facilities.

Dmitriev recorded the era of industrial growth, and in the 1900s he turned to everyday subjects — lodging houses and burlaks. After the Revolution, he continued his documentary work, creating a unique visual encyclopedia of life in Nizhny Novgorod.

A rich public program accompanies the exhibition, including guided tours, children’s events, and film screenings.