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Tolmacheva E. Photographic Study of the Veps Culture in the 1920s–1930s: from Scientific Context to Ideological Rigidity

E. Tolmacheva
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-8715-359x
E-mail: toek@kunstkamera.ru; timmto@gmail.com

 

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ABSTRACT. The article examines two photographic sets from the collection of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MAE RAS). The photos were taken during one individual and several group ethnographic expeditions to the territory populated by the Veps in 1925–1928 and 1938. The research from 1925–1928 was solely dedicated to the study of Veps culture. It contained comprehensive surveys of neighboring areas and detailed photographs of various aspects of traditional life. It aimed to compare and classify analogous cultural phenomena and arrange them along time and space lines. The work carried out in 1938 differs significantly from the project conducted in 1925–1928 in its superficial approach, weaker preparation, re-use of previously shot material, and, finally, its focus on finding and photographing details about the construction of new Soviet collective farms. In the 1920s–1930s, visual arts enjoyed a tremendous surge in interest in the country, and much theoretical and applied research in photography was conducted. Occupying an important place in ethnographic science, photography of this period captured the traditional ways of life that were about to go away and the rapid construction of the new Soviet society. Photo projects of the time indicated a drastic worldview transformation, which manifested itself not so much in the types of ethnographic scenes being filmed but in how the material was presented to the viewer. When filming their subjects, ethnographers replaced the classic evolutionary approach with new thematic frameworks relevant to the young Soviet state.

 

KEYWORDS: ethnography studies, the Veps, photography, visual anthropology, source criticism, museum collection

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2023-4(22)-139-159
УДК 39:77.03

 

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