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Sevruguin (Antoin) photographs
2017.R.25
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Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Antoin Sevruguin photographs of Persia
Creator: Sevruguin, Antoin, 1851-1933
Identifier/Call Number: 2017.R.25
Physical Description: 3.5 Linear Feet(97 photographs in 2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1880s-1890s
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
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Abstract: 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.
Language of Material: French
Language of Material: Collection material is in French.
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Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Antoin Sevruguin photographs of Persia, 1880s-1890s, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2017.R.25.
http://handle.net/10020/cifa2017r25
The collection is arranged in a single series: Series I, Photographs, 1880s-1890s.
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.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
The collection was digitized in 2017 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/aspace_3dda0882d23566b28c864cf628feaee0
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2017.
Processed by Beth Ann Guynn and Linda Kleiger in 2017, who also wrote and encoded the finding aid.
Scope and Content of Collection
The 97 albumen 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. Portraits of "types" include "Persan(es)"
(Persians); professions such as tea seller, druggist, fig vendor and street banker; mendicants; dervishes; courtesans and
prostitutes, shot in the studio or in their typical locales. All levels of society are present here from court treasurers,
represented by the retinue of Ghavam-al-Dowleh, to unnamed opium smokers, and to a portrait of a Chaldean Christian woman.
There are numerous views of Tehran, including views of four of the city's six gates; the English legation; arsenal; gas factory;
and the Place des Canons. A photograph captioned "Mosquée de Khoum" provides an intimate glimpse of two men sitting on an
open balcony with the impressive mosque as their backdrop. Daily life is represented in views of Tehran's markets and street
life.
Other locales represented include Anzalī Lagoon with views of its shores and the shah's palace, and the province of Gīlān,
especially local industry and life in the town of Rasht. Trade routes in the environs of Gīlān and other areas to the north
and west of Tehran are also pictured, with a focus on way stations; bridges leading to trade centers; and the movement of
the goods themselves in covered wagons, on camels and in caravanserai. From further afield come images of the nomads of Taliche
in Mazandaran province and from Lorestan in the west, as well as of the inhabitants of Imamzadeh, Kurdistan. Also included
are a few views of bas-reliefs at Persepolis and other ancient sites.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Indigenous peoples -- Iran
Occupations -- Iran
Relief (Sculpture), Ancient -- Iran -- Persepolis
Streets -- Iran
Trade routes -- Iran
Anzalī Lagoon (Iran) -- Description and travel
Gīlān (Iran : Province) -- Description and travel
Persepolis (Iran) -- Antiquities
Iran -- Description and travel
Rasht -- Description and travel
Tehran (Iran) -- Description and travel
Albumen prints -- Iran -- 19th century
Studio portraits -- Iran -- 19th century
Photographs, Original