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# Fresh impressions of the new exhibition at the Horse Guards Manege in Saint Petersburg, "Photographic Art
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/svezhie-vpechatleniia-ot-novoi-vystavki-v-konnogvardeiskom-manezhe-v-sankt-peterburge-fotoiskusstvo/
- Published: 2025-07-15T17:00:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:29:26.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Coming Up, Art, Museums, Observations, Saint Petersburg

Fresh impressions of the new exhibition at the Horse Guards Manege in Saint Petersburg, "Photographic Art. From the Daguerreotype to Artificial Intelligence".

The exhibition is very large: one can wander happily for several hours, for it occupies two floors of the Manege. It opens with the very first daguerreotypes to reach Russia, presented by Louis Daguerre to Emperor Nicholas I. There follows a colossal retrospective of photography in Russia, beginning with the earliest experiments: pictures of monuments of Russian history, views of cities, portraits and ethnic types, landscapes, outstanding people, landmark historical events, rare photographic series and little-known currents in photography. There are genuine masterpieces and unica, things worth seeing in the flesh, and images that one simply must know.

The display traces almost two centuries of the history of photography in detail and is laid out as a route through the key stages of its artistic and technological development: 178 names and 600 exhibits, including works by such landmark figures of photography as Louis Daguerre, William Carrick, Karl Bulla, Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, Boris Smelov, Sergey Borisov, Vlad Mamyshev-Monroe and the art group AES. Many of the works by these distinguished photographers are being shown in a museum space for the first time.

The second floor, which interested me rather less, offers a particular view of the current state of photography in contemporary art, including staged and conceptual photography, digital montage and images created by neural networks.

Above all, I valued the chance to see photography in Russia in its development, the good academic commentary in the catalogue, and the multitude of unique, rare photographs arranged by genre, school and period.

The exhibition runs until 15 October and is unquestionably worth a visit.

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