The Lost Empire: Photographer to the TSAR

In the early 1900s, photographer Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii was hired by Tsar Nicholas II to conduct an ambitious photographic survey of the Russian Empire. For this project, Prokuden-Gorskii traveled the countryside taking photos, but after the Tsar and his family were murdered in 1918, the project was abandoned and the photographs stored away. This exhibition represents the first time these historic images have ever been viewed by the public, or in the U.S. The photos are also unique in the sense that they are color photos recorded on glass plates, and were meant to be projected—and are presented at TMORA in backlit light boxes which bring out an astonishing level of color and detail.

The Museum of Russian Art
May 5-Aug.31, 2008