Until now, Sophia Tolstoy's photography was only regarded as a reference for studies of her husband's life, said Leah Bendavid-Val, editor and author of over a dozen books on photography, at an event at the Katzen Arts Center Wednesday.
Bendavid-Val, director of photography publishing for National Geographic Books, was promoting her book, "Song Without Words: The Photographs and Diaries of Countess Sophia Tolstoy."
The event coordinated with the museum's exhibition "Song Without Words: The Photographs of Countess Sophia Tolstoy," which is displaying more than 70 photographs and several diary entries. The exhibit runs through Oct. 21.
Tolstoy was the wife of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who wrote "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina."
The photographs, which were all taken between 1885 and 1910, are personal pictures taken in an attempt to document Tolstoy's family and her life, including many which focused on her husband.
Bendavid-Val said she discovered Sophia Tolstoy's work in Russia nearly two decades ago during her research for two books on Russian photography.
Tolstoy's favorite type of photograph was the portrait and self-portrait. Her portraits and self-portraits were informal and direct, an innovative approach in her time. Although Tolstoy never came forward with her pictures, Bendavid-Val said she believes Tolstoy deserves a place with the amateur photographers of the late 19th century photography movement, such as Julia Margaret Cameron, a British photographer.
Many Russians viewed Tolstoy in a negative light at the time because they believed she got in the way of her husband's ideals and beliefs. Leo Tolstoy wanted to lead a simple life, devoid of material luxuries. He refused to wear the clothing that marked him as a man of status and instead dressed in traditional peasant clothing. Sophia Tolstoy, on the other hand, believed in order to raise their family they could never give up their material wealth, Bendavid-Val said.
"It makes you have sympathy with the countess - it shows she was a fine person in her own way," said Sherwood Smith, a community member, of Bendavid-Val's speech and the museum exhibition.
Bendavid-Val was also the curator of the museum exhibition. The photographs are organized into themes that represent various aspects of Tolstoy's life with excerpts of her diaries dispersed throughout. Through the themes of her photography, one sees her as a wife, a mother and a woman, and viewers can look at her accomplishments as a photographer, Bendavid-Val said.
The title of the book, "Song Without Words," came from a series of songs composed for the piano by Felix Mendelssohn, whom the countess loved and used as a title for a novella she wrote.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the National Geographic Society will sponsor a live reading from the diaries of Sophia and Leo Tolstoy Oct. 2. For more information, visit the National Geographic Society's Web site at www.nationalgeographic.com/nglive.
