Title: From Tobol'sk to Obdorsk

Description

This album of 32 original watercolors by the Tobol'sk artist M.S. Znamenskii is from the library of Tsar Nicholas II. The album was obtained for him in 1894 for 800 rubles following the death of the artist. Znamenskii painted the watercolors over a number of years and collected them in a birch-bark covered binding under the title "From Tobol'sk to Obdorsk." The subjects include scenes from Tobol'sk, Berezov, Obdorsk (present-day Salekhard), and other localities in Tobol’sk Province; the different ethnic groups living in this region of Siberia (Russians, Tatars, Ostiaks, Samoyeds); scenes of everyday life and work; as well as several historical themes, including the "Conquest of Siberia" and "Siberia as a Place of Exile."