Grandfather of Caucasian photography

Well, since A said it, she should also say B, and therefore a new hero...

Do you know who this is? This, I tell you, is truly a Great Photographer! His name was Grigory Ivanovich Raev.

Grisha Raev was born on November 30, 1863 in Pyatigorsk in the family of a retired soldier. His childhood ended quite quickly, because right when Gregory turned 5 years old, his father passed away, leaving the family to vegetate in poverty. But at the age of 15, Grisha was incredibly lucky, because he was apprenticed to the famous Alexander Karlovich Engel. I’ll tell you about Engel later, but I’ll only whisper quietly that Engel at that time was the most famous photographer in the Caucasus, had a network of studios stretching from Tiflis to Mineralnye Vody, and an impressive “waiting list” of high ranks. Actually, the cunning Austrian Engel noticed a future master in the 15-year-old boy, revealed secrets to him and “infected” him with his passion - a passion for travel and landscape photography.

Later, the student will surpass his teacher, but throughout his life he will carry a feeling of gratitude to him - “my teacher from Vienna” as he called him. But all this will happen later.

In the meantime, it's 1878. And 15-year-old Raev gladly participates in his teacher’s plein air forays onto the untrodden paths of the Caucasus. At the same time, Grigory Ivanovich does something for which a monument could be erected to him - with the help of the old cab driver Kuzma Chukhnin, who was carrying the body of M.Yu. Lermontov, who was killed in 1841, Raev and Engel find the place of the poet’s duel, and leave a memorial stone there . In 3 years, a modest obelisk will be erected on this site. This event will determine the fate of the young photographer for many years.

Also in 1881, Raev filmed events dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Lermontov’s death.

Memorial Day of M. Yu. Lermontov in Pyatigorsk in 1881. Engraving made from a photograph by G. I. Raev.

In 1887, Raev began independent activities and bought out Engel’s studio in Pyatigorsk. But he doesn’t give up his passion. He travels selflessly, and is not hindered by bulky equipment, Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Zheleznovodsk, Essentuki, Elbrus, Teberda, Tiflis, as well as Odessa, Nizhny Novgorod, fabulous Cairo, lace cities of Belgium, strict Gothic of Germany, motley Turkey, foggy England and always festive France, and this is not the entire list of places he visited. “I looked abroad through the eyes of a Russian,” he recalled. “It was not the brilliance of wealth that interested me there, but what characterized the life of the people, their history.”

All the shooting was carried out by Grigory Ivanovich himself, as stated in the catalog he published: “All types of series I released for sale were shot by me personally from life...”

G.I. Raev in his photo studio in Pyatigorsk

In 1888, Grigory Ivanovich received his first Silver Medal of the Imperial Russian Technical Society. He is 25 years old.

Raev could easily earn untold wealth by photographing vacationers in the Caucasian Mineral Waters, but the artist’s restless nature demanded more, and he began producing albums with views of the Caucasus, which were wildly popular.

A separate – and main – page of his life and work is, of course, the Caucasus and Caucasian Mineral Waters in particular. Which, again, can be clearly traced by the “addresses” of his subjects: large cycles dedicated to the Teberda Nature Reserve, the cities of Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Essentuki, Elbrus. A waterfall in the vicinity of Mount Kazbek, the road to the gorge of the Teberda River, the Georgian Military and Ossetian Military roads, Lake Klukhori and the pass... The exhibition includes superbly executed works of an ethnographic nature, united in the cycle “Types of the Caucasus” - bright characters in the national costumes of the Mingrelians, Khevsurs, Gurians, Chechens, Persians. A small part of the landscapes and images were colorized, giving the photographs a sort of naive salon quality. But in general, G. Raev, who naturally shot in black and white, did not need color, he worked so highly technically and at the same time highly artistically.

Georgian military road. Mount Kazbek. photo by Raev

And his works invariably receive awards at national and world exhibitions. In 1895, he was awarded the medal "For Industry and Art" from the Ministry of Finance. Among his honors is a silver medal from the Geographical Society, he was awarded four gold and nine silver medals, many diplomas and recognition of his skill

In 1896, Grigory Ivanovich was invited to the Louvre, where he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor and a special prize - the “Golden Camera”.

In 1898, the newspaper “Novoe Vremya” published a large article praising Raev’s beautiful photographs as a recognized master of light painting.

In 1899, Grigory Ivanovich became one of the founders of the Caucasian Mountain Society, as a fellow chairman and member of the excursion commission, and then one of the first conquerors of Elbrus.

Pyatigorsk Beshtau. photo by G. Raev

Various people visited his photo studio: mechanics, railway workers, vacationers... There were also celebrities: Chaliapin, Sobinov, Rachmaninov, and Kosta Khetagurov was a frequent guest of Raev’s studio.

S. V. Rachmaninov (sitting second from left), F. I. Chaliapin (standing first from left) and other figures of Russian culture at Figurov’s dacha in Essentuki. Photo by G.I. Raev. 1910s. The photograph is decorated with an image of one of G.I. Raev’s awards - the gold medal of the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900.

Since 1911, Raev's species albums have been published in huge editions in the West.

Since 1912, Grigory Ivanovich became the permanent custodian of the house-museum of M.Yu. Lermontov. He worked towards this for a long time, together with his comrades, collecting bit by bit exhibits associated with the name of the poet.

The revolution, one might say, spared him. The Order of the Legion of Honor and the “golden camera” were, of course, taken away (however, the order was later returned). The workshops were also selected. But they left the opportunity to do what they love. He took portraits of Budyonny and Kalinin, and they turned out completely different from those in the “protocol” photographs in newspapers, a little sadder, as if shrouded in the light ripple of a lost world. They left him the museum, he still took pictures of views, and the state publishing house still wrote him huge letters asking for permission to print his photographs.

He lived a long life, 94 years, spanning two centuries of happiness, sorrow, wars, and revolutions. He grew from the son of a retired soldier into an unsurpassed master of photography, one of the best Caucasus experts in Russia, a botanist and researcher. He died in 1957 in Pyatigorsk.

This is how Grigory Ivanovich Raev was - “the grandfather of Caucasian photography.”