Mikhail Petrovich Nastyukov was a Russian photographer of the second half of the 19th century and one of the leading masters of landscape and documentary photography of his time. He had ties to Nizhny Novgorod: in 1860 he opened his first photographic studio here and repeatedly photographed the city and the Yarmarka; his students became the founders of Nizhny Novgorod photography — Andrey Osipovich Karelin and Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev.[1]

Career

Nastyukov took up photography in 1858. In 1860 he founded a studio in Nizhny Novgorod, and in 1862 one in Moscow, first on Sretenka Street and, from 1877, in the building of the Museum of Art and Industry at the Stroganov School of Technical Drawing. In the mid-1860s he also had a branch in Kostroma.[2]

From 1868 Nastyukov worked under the patronage of the Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich, and in 1869 he accompanied him on a journey through the country.[2] In 1875 the photographer visited Nizhny Novgorod in the retinue of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and created the album "Views of the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka. August 8–15, 1875."[1]

Albums and series

In 1866–1867 Nastyukov issued the album "Views of Places along the Volga River from Tver to Kazan," one of the early landmarks of Russian landscape photography; it included, among other things, photographs of Nizhny Novgorod from the Yarmarka embankment, of Kimry, and of Kalyazin.[3][2] In 1873, commissioned by the Academy of Arts, he compiled the "Album of Photographic Views of Monuments of Old Russian Art." In 1879 he photographed the Moscow flood, and in 1883 he created the series "Group of Volost Elders Who Took Part in the Celebrations of the Sacred Coronation of Their Imperial Majesties in Moscow in May 1883."[2]

Recognition and students

In 1870 Nastyukov received a silver medal "for clearly executed views of various localities of Russia" at the All-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition.[2] His students are considered to include Andrey Osipovich Karelin, who initiated interior portraiture in Russia, and Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev, who stood at the origins of Russian documentary journalism photography; both worked in Nizhny Novgorod.[1]

Sources

  1. Zhivyom v Nizhnem — The exhibition from the collection of the Russian Museum of Photography is presented at the exhibition center of Nizhny Novgorod — Zhivyom v Nizhnem (archive)
  2. russiahistory.ru — History of Photography. Mikhail Petrovich Nastyukov — History of Russia Before 1917 (archive)
  3. nlr.ru — Exhibition at the National Library of Russia: Along the Banks of the Great Volga