Photography Travel Journal of Belgrade by Ivan Groman: A Different View of the Photographic work of Ivan Groman

Abstract

Little is known about a Russian photographer, Ivan Groman. His photographic work, originating in 1876 in the Principality of Serbia, was used repeatedly for illustrations, but has never been thoroughly analyzed as a historic document. Although his photographs, kept in the Historical Archives of Belgrade, the City Museum of Belgrade, and the Military Museum in Belgrade, may not represent his entire photographic opus, a thorough analysis of his work may serve the purpose of seeking for the message, and therefore for the aim of his work and stay in Belgrade. A small number of his photographs of Belgrade, constituting small series (‘stories’) of a relatively small area, clearly lead to the conclusion that I. V. Groman was not just a photographer – documentarist with an unquestionable and subtle artistic sense, but also a perceptive and possibly experienced “documentarist on a military mission”. It does not diminish the significance and value of his photographic work in Belgrade. Quite the opposite. His opus gains the documentary vigor of the travel journal photo–story, which in its expressiveness does not fall short of the travel journals of a more traditional kind.