ВІЗУАЛІЗУЮЧИ УКРАЇНУ: АМАТОРСЬКА ФОТОГРАФІЯ В КИЄВІ НА РУБЕЖІ ХІХ-ХХ СТ.
VISUALISING UKRAINE: AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY IN KYIV IN TURN OF THE ХІХ-ХХ CC.

Summary/Abstract: The paper touches upon the development of amateur photography in Kyiv in turn of the 19- 20 cc. It is stated that the photography enthusiasts from Kyiv played an important role in making the visual image of Ukraine and therefore strongly contributed to the development of Ukrainian national identity in the late 19 – early 20 cc. The author admits that commercial photography emerged in Kyiv soon after the daggerro typy invention, but until the late 19 c. there were only a few persons in the city who may be considered as amateur photographers. The expansiveness of photographic equipment as well as obligation to get a special permission of local authorities to take pictures acted as a brake on the amateur photography development. Nevertheless, the quantity of persons who were not involved in the professional photography, but owned cameras in Kyiv, increased from 6 in 1890 to 44 in 1907. Kyiv was the first city in the Russian empire where the teaching of photography was launched on a regular basis. In 1901 Kyiv photographic society “Daguerre”was founded with the aim to promote the artistic and scientific photography development. A year after its foundation the society included 79 members. In 1906 Mykola Petrov headed the Daguerre society. He was an amateur photographer whose artistic works were well known throughout the Eastern and Central Europe. In 1908 the Daguerre society in cooperation with Kyiv branch of the Russian Imperial Technical society held the First international photographic exhibition in Kyiv. The author concludes that Petrov and others photography enthusiast in Kyiv who shared a pictorealistic approach to photography, contributed significantly to the theory and practice of the artistic photography in the early 20 c.

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