Description
The 97 photographs in this collection are representative of Antoin Sevruguin's all-encompassing documentation of Persia, and
comprise a mixture of studio portraits, outdoor vernacular scenes and landscapes.
Background
Antoin Sevruguin (1851-1933) was the first successful commercial photographer in Iran. Russian by birth (he was born in the
Russian embassy in Tehran), Sevruguin nevertheless had a deep and passionate commitment to Persia and its culture. Sevruguin
opened his first photography studio in Tbilisi in 1870 with Dmitri Ivanovitch Yermakov, and shortly thereafter undertook an
expedition to Iran with his brothers, Kolia and Emmanuel, to document the ancient monuments, landscapes and peoples of Azerbaijan,
Kurdistan and Lorestan. The photographic images from this trip supplied the first stock for the studio they subsequently established
in Tehran. Sevruguin made over 7,000 glass plate negatives in the course of his career, most of which were destroyed in the
early twentieth century — fewer than 700 of his negatives are known to have survived.
Extent
3.5 Linear Feet(97 photographs in 2 boxes)
Restrictions
Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.
Availability
Open for use by qualified researchers.