Petersburg Profiles. Cabmen, Waiters, Vagabonds, Torchbearers

Nikolai Zhivotov — journalist, official, publisher, writer. Almost forgotten today, at the end of the 19th century he became a significant author for new, unrefined readers from the lower classes, because he saw the need for lively texts about problems and everyday realities close to them. The vivid textual portraits of Petersburg profiles created by Zhivotov are complemented by illustrations taken from popular magazines of that time. Reporter-artists conveyed the ordinary, non-parade, non-official life of pre-revolutionary Petersburg more accurately than any photograph, and the portrait of Nikolai Zhivotov himself is formed thanks to the extensive research article by Lev Lurie and Vera Garmanova.