Dmitriev Maxim Petrovich (1858-1948) is known as one of the most influential and promising photographers. Almost everyone knows about his work. Maxim Petrovich began his activity and talent development at the end of the 19th century, that is, a little earlier than the First World War. Not only from a historical, but also from a professional point of view, his personality is quite interesting. His famous series of photos show the social problems of the time, which is useful information for modern society. In addition, the fact that thanks to his works the most important events of Nizhny Novgorod have been officially documented should not be ignored.
early years
Dmitriev Maxim Petrovich was born in 1858 in the famous Tambov province. He received his first education at a church school. It should be noted that there he was considered one of the most intelligent and promising students. After the successful completion of the parish school, he was forced to independently earn money for bread. Maxim liked to weave baskets for sale, which brought him the main income, and also from time to time he read the hymnal over the dead.
The young man’s mother, of course, wanted a better life for him and wanted to give him a good craft. With a lot of effort, Maxim Petrovich became a student of one famous photographer of that time. So the young man was acquainted with the painting and became interested in it, and also gained skills in soaking the plate for the photo in special nitric acid, processing, sticking and retouching photos.
Mentor
As already mentioned, Dmitriev Maxim was trained by a professional photographer. M.P. Nastyukov was not only a professional in his field, but also engaged in entrepreneurship. His works were most often associated with the imperial house, national architecture and frescoes.
Thanks to the considerable achievements of the mentor, the young student was able to see engravings and art albums that shocked the whole world. It was something new and unusual, which before people could not see. All these photographs greatly expanded the horizons of Maxim Petrovich and came up with ideas that the future photographer was ready to implement in the near future.
In addition, in the workshop of Nastyukov Dmitriev met with a beautiful city called Nizhny Novgorod. He learned about the existence of a well-known fair, where a small laboratory of his mentor was located.
Every day Nastyukov praised his student for craving for new knowledge and new ideas. After some time, Dmitriev began to study at an art school, where he successfully mastered the basic rules of working with light and shadow, and also learned the basics of quite interesting constructions.
Trip to Nizhny Novgorod
Maxim Dmitriev went to the long-awaited city at the age of sixteen. Nizhny Novgorod has become his favorite city, as his creative talent really manifested itself there. Nastyukov was now definitely ready to allow him to work in his shop at the same fair that Dmitriev could only dream of before. In order to get here to work, he had to make a lot of effort, but still this desire did not fade in him during all this time. Now his main goal has been achieved, and Maxim Petrovich can finally realize all the ideas accumulated over a long time.
In Nizhny Novgorod Dmitriev met with Karelin, the famous photographer and winner of many local and international exhibitions. After three years of intensive work in the mentor's photo pavilion, Maxim stopped working with him and now moved to Nizhny Novgorod forever in order to collaborate with one of the promising students of Andrei Osipovich Karelin. The young photographer was to learn the virtuoso technique and many small details of photography from the new teacher.
It was during this period that people found out what kind of photographer Maxim Dmitriev really was. The biography of this man does not reveal too many facts, but everyone knows that he was loved by many connoisseurs of beautiful photos. Five years later, his second important goal was realized - Maxim began to work in the pavilion near Karelin himself. Here unique photographs were taken, which surprised absolutely all the locals, as well as professional photographers from other cities.
Albums and photos
Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev presented his work to Moscow connoisseurs of photography only ten years later. In 1889, a large exhibition was held, which was dedicated to the anniversary of painting. Here the provincial photographer received quite a lot of praise from the spoiled public. Exactly 53 works, performed perfectly and taking into account every smallest detail, made up the exposition.
The exhibition in Paris, where there was a photograph of prisoners at construction works, which caused various opinions and reviews among people, made it clear to many fans of his work that Maxim Dmitriev was really a photographer. The biography of the future years of his life does not make him doubt his professionalism.
After some time, an album had already been created, which collected photographs of people and gardens that were experiencing crop failure at that time. It included pictures of starving people, the work of doctors, as well as people who tried as much as possible to help sick peasants.
Nizhny Novgorod tramp
The most interesting topic for discussion in the work of Maxim Dmitriev is a series of photos where he showed some individuals who do not have sufficient means of survival. They wandered through various basements, ruins, moorings or dumps. Thus, the photographer accurately captured the lower layer of society.
Criticism of creativity
Like any creative person, Maxim Dmitriev listened to criticism from different angles. But she absolutely did not stop him from overcoming all the big peaks and continuing to do what he loved. In some cases, dissatisfaction expressed from the side even pushed him to new ideas. Each creator takes criticism differently, and, fortunately, to Maxim Petrovich, it only benefited.
More than once he was a laureate of photo exhibitions taking place not only in Russian cities, but also far abroad. The society recognized him as a genius for so many merits, people always believed in the photographer and many of them almost never doubted this talent.
The outbreak of war and recent years
The events of 1917 affected the work of Maxim Dmitriev. The photographer was forced to stop shooting outside the pavilion, and subsequent revolutionary actions completely put an end to his fame. But even so, Maxim Petrovich still continued to work further with faith in a good future.
Already after the end of hostilities, a sufficiently large number of photographs were taken from the studio for various reasons. Because of this, the photographer lost the only earnings that exhibitions brought him.
Maxim Dmitriev spent the last years of his life alone and in silence. At that time he was no longer known, the society was already occupied with other important matters, and the photographs of the once great photographer were not so interesting. Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev lived a difficult life. The biography of the photographer is known to many people, and the work of that time is often liked by modern society much more than current creations.