Content: 25 plates, each captioned: Khudozhestvennyi al'bom, fotograf s natury, v Nizhnem-Novgorode, khudozhn. A. Karelin.
Content: According to Pierre Apraxine: "partial album originally bound in red leather with gilt letters, now disbound and boxed in original cover bearing the title. 25 albumen prints (+/- 9 x 6") mounted on elaborately designed mounts, repeating the title and the place and adding in lower left corner: Artist A. Karelin. The prints are numbered in pencil, include posed studies of mostly young women, alone, in couples, or in groups, visiting an artist's studio, playing games, reading or looking at photographic albums, etc. Also family groups and a few portraits of 'types', beggars, peasant girls in costume. The majority of scenes are posed in comfortable, fashionable middle-class interiors (there are a few outdoor scenes) aiming to evoke the idyllic pleasures of youth, innocence, and family life. There is a conspicuous lack of naturalness in these 'tableaux' but a beautiful sense of light , an empathy for the young, and some striking portraits (no. 11, 20). This and similar work established Karelin's reputation as the preeminent Russian artistic photographer. The condition of the prints is good but many have yellowed. The mounts are very brittle at the covers. They should be encased in new mounts."
Statement of responsibility: khudozhnik i fotograf Imperatorskoi akademii khudozhestv Karelin.
Acquisition: Transferred from the Slavic and Baltic Division, 2012.
