Photographer Alexander Alexandrovich Kitaev

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:40

Alexander Alexandrovich Kitaev - Soviet, and later Russian master of photography, historian, artist. Author of 4 books and numerous publications on photographic art. His photographic portraits are the standard of the genre, and the most famous cycles are works dedicated to the Athos Monastery, St. Petersburg and the Netherlands.

Passion

Alexander Kitaev was born in Leningrad on November 23, 1952. After the war and the terrible blockade, not much time passed, and the boy witnessed, in fact, the second birth of the city. Already during this period, love for Leningrad-Petersburg was born, which the artist carried through his whole life. I wanted to express my feelings with the help of photography - a tool that allows you to "stop a moment of time".

This opportunity appeared in the early 1970s. After leaving school, a guy from a simple family got a job as a mechanic at the famous Zarya electromechanical plant, where, by the way, he worked for 8 years from start to finish (1970-1978). In parallel, in 1971, he entered the correspondence department of the Northwestern Polytechnic Institute.

In the walls of the educational institution, he met the guys from the photo club of the Vyborg Palace of Culture (VDK). It was not just a circle of interests, but the oldest community of photographers in the country, where outstanding masters of their craft shared their experience with young people. Alexander could not miss the opportunity to improve his skills, and in 1972 joined the ranks of the photography club.

Vocation

Within the community of amateur photographers of the VDK, a wonderful team has crystallized in the person of A. Kitaev, S. Chabutkin, E. Skibitskaya, B. Konov, E. Pokuts. The guys and girls formed the creative group "Window" and worked fruitfully together for several years. They have repeatedly become laureates of various competitions of folk art, city, all-Union and even international exhibitions.

Alexander Kitaev did not want to stop there. His mind demanded great knowledge. He entered the university of working correspondents, which operated at the Leningrad House of Journalists, at the faculty of photojournalists. After graduating in 1977, Alexander Alexandrovich was able to engage in photography professionally. He easily got a job as a staff photographer at the famous Admir alty Shipyards shipyard, where warships were also built.

Search

As experience is gained, every master wants to share it with his students so that his research is not in vain. Alexander Kitaev was no exception. In 1879, he took an active part in the creation of a new photo club at the House of Friendship of Peoples. That's what they called him -photo club "Friendship". For three years, the master shared professional secrets with young people and colleagues. But in 1982, for unknown reasons, he left the organization, taking up independent creativity.

In subsequent years, he worked hard, experimented, looked for himself in other areas of art. But close live communication with colleagues was clearly not enough. In 1987, Alexander Alexandrovich joined the ranks of the Zerkalo photo club, in 1988 he was a member of the Leningrad association "Photocenter" at the Palace of Culture named after. "Ilyich", in 1989 he was a member of the "Community of Photographers" partnership, created by R. Mangutov. These years have passed in painstaking work, the search for new stories in the wake of perestroika and glasnost, in fact, the search for oneself as an author.

Creativity

Back in the 1980s, Alexander Kitaev set about creating one of the most famous photocycles of Leningrad, which later became canonical in the professional environment. As one of the critics noted, Kitaev's works are outside of time and space. The photographer captured the moment of shooting so subtly that it is impossible to tell what period the photo belongs to: is it modern Petersburg, Soviet Leningrad, or Tsarist Petrograd?

Another significant work of that period was the creation of cycles of photo portraits of the most famous figures of Leningrad culture. Later, in the new Russia, the project continued. Thanks to this series, Alexander Alexandrovich became known as one of the best portrait photographers in the country.

Since the 1990s, the master has been experimenting with a newtechnique of chemography and photograms - the field of abstract photography. Creativity Kitaev was highly appreciated. In 1992, he was admitted to the Union of Photographers of Russia, and 2 years later - to the Union of Artists of Russia. Since 1998, Alexander Alexandrovich's photo galleries have been exhibited at the "Traditional Autumn Photo Marathon".

New stage

Period 1996 to 2000 was marked by the creation of the Window to the Netherlands series. The work was carried out in close cooperation with colleagues from the Dutch publication Wubbo de Jang. The project turned out to be extremely successful and received rave reviews from professionals. The works draw parallels between the two port cities, equally rightly called the "Venice of the North".

In the 2000s, Kitaev moved to a new creative level. He becomes the organizer of the Art-Tema publishing house, whose goal is to publish literature on photographic skill. Since the mid-2000s, he has been writing books on photography. These are not just practical guides, but a look at photography as an art object. The author is actively exploring the Internet. At one time he was the editor of the Peter-club online magazine.

You can not ignore the unique series of photographs of the Athos series. The author went on expeditions to the holy mountain five times and created an amazing chronicle of the life of one of the most closed monasteries in the world.

Editions

Alexander Alexandrovich is the author of 4 full-length books on photography, more than 10 albums, many publications onhistory of photography. Among them:

• Photographer on photography (2006).
• Stereoscope. Subjectively about photographers (2013).
• Poste restante. St. Petersburg Ivan Bianchi (2015).
• Petersburg light in the photographs of Carl Doutendey (2016).

Since 2012, Kitaev has been engaged in educational activities. He teaches photography in various photo centers, schools and educational institutions. Craftsman experience is in high demand.