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Visual Arts

Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia, The Photographer's Gallery

01 Aug 14 – 19 Oct 14, 12:00 AM – 12:00 AM

Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia documents the political significance of the medium in 20th century Russia

By CW Contributor on 10/7/2014

Dmitri Baltermants Stalin’s funeral, Moscow, 1953 © Multimedia Art Museum
Dmitri Baltermants Stalin’s funeral, Moscow, 1953 © Multimedia Art Museum
Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia, The Photographer's Gallery Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia, The Photographer's Gallery Angie Sutton
Russian photography is experiencing a renaissance in London this summer.  Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky's work is being shown in Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia, an exhibition at the Photographers' Gallery showcasing the important role played by colour photography in Russian culture from the end of the nineteenth century. This stands as a perfect complement to the contemporary Russian photographers in Close and Far: Russian Photography Now at Calvert 22. The show at the Photographers' Gallery is a homage to colour photography as well as a document of the many transformations undergone by Russia in the twentieth century.   

The history 

Prokudin-Gorsky was a Russian chemist who developed one of the first colour film systems. He was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II to travel throughout Russia, including parts of Siberia and remote regions which have never again been documented, to take photographs of the Russian landscape, people, and way of life. These photographs provide an unmatched view of pre-revolution Russia, and are some of the earliest colour photographs in the world. 

The exhibition

The photographs in Primrose are chronologically arranged to show how photographic technique both influenced and documented historical events. These include early hand tinted photographs of Tsarist officials, photo-montages developed by the Bolshevik avant-garde of the revolution, colour photography used in the socialist realist propaganda of the communist regime, and finally as a mass medium when it became cheaply available in the 1970s. As well as being intriguing art objects, these photographs show how image making technology is not only a means of recording history, but can also be an agent in shaping it.


What Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia, The Photographer's Gallery
Where The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London, W1F 7LW | MAP
Nearest tube Oxford Circus (underground)
When 01 Aug 14 – 19 Oct 14, 12:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Price £Free
Website Click here for more information

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  • Culture Whisper says... 

    The perfect exhibition when you haven't got hours to spare. It's an enchanting exploration of Russian history via the controls and propagandist pressure placed on the photographer's lens. Don't miss Dmitri Baltermants on the fourth floor where less strict regulations under Khrushchev's leadership of the Soviet Union give rise to something freer and more personal. His depiction of 'Rain' had us completely absorbed.

    Practical

    VENUE

    TPG is London’s photographic epicentre. We love this five-storey Soho space: what was once a fairly dismal, low-ceilinged building was converted in 2012 to a world-class exhibition space. Airy and light, the gallery hangs a tip-top roster of emerging and established talent, as well as presenting the   Deutsche Borse  : photography’s Turner Prize equivalent and kind of a big deal. Don’t miss the brilliantly curated  book shop. Open: Monday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm; Thursday, 10am - 8pm ; Sunday, 11.30am  - 6pm.

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