Person / Boris Smelov
Boris Smelov / Person
Boris Smelov
Boris Smelov. The Griboedov Canal. 1978
euvre of Boris Smelov is a valuable and vivid
phenomenon of the Petersburg culture of the 1970–
1990s, associated with St. Petersburg, dedicated and
to St. Petersburg and defined by St. Petersburg. His black
and white image of the city that became a key theme of his
works is the most expressive statement that was made about
this city at the end of the last century, equal in its meaning
to the poetry of Brodsky.
Each photo by Smelov is an embodiment of what lies
on the bottom of consciousness, and that is only in dreams
and fantasies, for remembering is one of the forms of
fantasy. Random moments are weaved into an important
message, into a whole text about the city and its unique
expressiveness. Boris Smelov’s inimitable handwriting
consists in the acuteness of experiences of similar moments,
that he himself called «intuitive photography». His works,
combining the harmony of chance and eternal, emotional
and cultural, are the best illustration of this photo feature.
Smelov’s works are comparable to the highest examples
of world photography, with the works by Cartier-Bresson,
Duano and Curtis. Critics and professional photographers
unanimously recognize him as one of the best European
masters. Today there is no more or less prominent Petersburg
photographer who managed to escape his influence.
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Boris was born on March 13, 1951 in Leningrad.
He visited a photography club at the Palace of Pioneers
named after A. A. Zhdanov, then came to the oldest
photography club in the country at the Vyborg House of
Culture.
In the 1960–1970s amateur photography clubs became
an important platform for sharing experience and having
creative conversations. However, strict censorship that
with prejudice examined each exhibition, as well as the
conformism of the club’s leadership, made the younger
generation leave and form their own, closer groups. Boris
Smelov began to visit the workshop at the House of Culture
of the Food Industry where in the evenings the professionals
printed and discussed their photographs.
Friends introduced the photographer to the circle of
poets and artists who gathered in the cafe «Saigon» on the
corner of Nevsky and Vladimir avenues. At the invitation of
the poet Konstantin Kuzminsky Boris participated in the
famous in-home exhibition «Under the Parachute» (1974),
made a gallery of portraits of the heroes of the Petersburg
underground.
At the same time Smelov worked as a photographer: first
in the Combine of decorative and design art, then in the
publishing house «Artist of the RSFSR».
In 1976, Vyborg House of Culture opened a personal
exhibition of Boris Smelov which did not last ever for one
day: according to the orders of censors from the regional
committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(CPSU), all the works were removed. Dissatisfaction with
the censors could be caused a minor tonality of the images
that contradicted the city’s images on depicted on postcards.
That incident deprived Smelov of the opportunity
to exhibit works officially, therefore, up to the times of
Perestroika, the photographer participated only in illegal
in-home exhibitions. In 1977, he received the Gold Medal
for the reportage series at the 11th International Photo Salon
in Bucharest.
In the late 1980s, the creative work of Boris Smelov
attracted the attention of collectors and museums around
the world. His photographs were shown in the USA,
Germany, Great Britain, Finland.
In the 1990s Smelov and a close circle of his associates
created the group «Punctum», the name of which was
borrowed from the famous book on the theory of photography
«Camera Lucida» by the French culturologist Roland Barth:
«punctum» referred to the ability of a photograph depicting
an accidental detail to arise a deep feeling in a viewer.
Boris Smelov tragically died on January 18, 1998. He is
buried at the Smolensk cemetery.
The year of 2018 was special for residents of St. Petersburg. The city on the Neva celebrates its 315th
anniversary. The Foto Sphere magazine simply could not neglect such a significant event and not
remember the legend of the classical Petersburg photography — Boris Smelov who gained world
recognition from professional photographers, critics and art connoisseurs. Each of his work dedicated
to St. Petersburg is not just a photograph that conveys a local history reality, but some intellectual-
emotional and mysterious statement about a beloved city endowed with an element of chance. Mariya
Snigirevskaya, foster-daughter and student of Boris, agreed to talk with us about his life and work.
Boris Smelov. Fontanka in the winter. Pipes. 1984
Yekaterina Kurbanova: Mariya, how did Boris go in for
photography?
Mariya Snigirevskaya: Boris started taking pictures from
the age of 13, after his mother gave him a photocamera. He
studied photography at the Palace of Pioneers (Anichkov
Palace) where at those times there was a wonderful
children’s photography club.
Yekaterina Kurbanova: What are your memories about him?
Mariya Snigirevskaya: I got acquainted with him when he
was still a young, but already a wonderful photographer.
He shocked me with his work, he shocked everyone. That
was something no one had seen before. He was appreciated
by friends, artists and photographers. We quickly found a
common language with him. Boris became like an elder
brother for me. We went to the photo shooting together, and
I learned from him the art of photography.
I would call him a real Petersburg intellectual —
cheerful, witty and easy to communicate with. He had a lot
of friends. He loved his spaniel Toto and the cat. However,
it was difficult enough for him to live on this earth. He
was very burdened by living, the whole earthly life with its
emptiness. Nothing existed for him, except creativity. He
read a lot, but reading did not bring optimism. I even had a
feeling that he seemed to be serving a sentence. Boris died
early, at 46 years old, nevertheless, he had done much and
much else could have done.
Yekaterina Kurbanova: The wife of Boris and your mother,
Nataliya Zhilina, was also a representative of the creative
profession. How did they get on together?
Mariya Snigirevskaya: Yes, my mother was a painter. In
general, they lived quite harmoniously in this union. If
there were quarrels, it was not because of everyday things,
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