At the Prepared Grave

Aleksey Ivanovich Saveliev

1910 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

These six photo-postcards show various places and moments surrounding the death and burial of Leo Tolstoy. In November 1910 the eighty-two-year-old novelist walked away from his great wealth to devote himself to Christian charity and died in a stationmaster's house after falling ill on a train. Tolstoy's death was of tremendous national importance, and how he was to be mourned–whether to kneel or stand at the grave, for instance–signified a contrast between old and new that would be decided during the Russian Revolution seven years later.

Artist

Aleksey Ivanovich Saveliev

Date

1910

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gift of Pierre Apraxine, 2010