On 26 August 1817, the Russian
120
frigate Kamchatka left the dark waters of
Kronstadt near St. Petersburg to undertake a
round-the-world voyage under the command of
Captain Vasily Golovnin. The goal of that expedition
was to visit Russian America, colonial
possessions of the Russian Empire in what is
today Alaska, northern California, and Hawaii,
and to explore the Northern part of the Pacifi c
Ocean. Similar to many other voyages that the
Russians conducted in the Pacifi c in the beginning
of the nineteenth century, the Kamchatka’s
crew had various scientifi c experts as well as an
Russia, such a rapid transformation from serf to
explorer of exotic lands and peoples was unique.
Overlooked for two centuries, the story of this
artist is compelling and tragic in a way that is
distinctly à la russe.
Tikhanov was born in 1789, though it is not
remembered where, and there is little information
known about his life prior to the Kamchatka
voyage. He is rumored to have been
an illegitimate son of Prince Golitsyn, and this
could explain the latter’s surprising patronage.
In 1806, Golitsyn himself addressed the Imperial
Academy of Arts, asking its director to enroll
Indigenous Peoples of the Pacifi c
and the Forgotten Russian Artist Mikhail Tikhanov
Tikanov there because of his budding artistic
skills. The request was granted on condition
that the prince would pay his serf’s tuition fee,
which was an unusual practice to say the least.
The young artist spent nine years at the academy
studying painting of historical subjects, a
genre that blossomed around 1812, refl ecting
the patriotic mood prevalent in Russia after the
defeat of the invading army of Emperor Napoleon.
His works were acknowledged by the
FIG. 2 (below): Voyage of
the Kamchatka from St.
Petersburg (Kronstadt),
1817–1819, with ports of call
at Portsmith, Rio de Janeiro,
Callao (Lima), Petropavlosk,
Kodiak, Sitka, Fort Ross,
Monterey, Bodega Bay,
Hawaii, Guam, Manila, St.
Helena, Ascension Island, Faial
Island, and Copenhagen.
Cartography: J. M. Fogel Media, Inc.
PORTFOLIO
expedition artist aboard. At that time, the latter
position had a particular importance and prestige,
as the reputation of an expedition would
heavily depend upon the accuracy of recordings
and the shrewdness of observations made
along the way. Prior to the invention of photography,
sketches and drawings supplemented
voyage journals, contributing to the accumulation
of knowledge about faraway territories.
Given that, such a job was usually given to an
established painter with experience and stable
social status. However, this was not the case
for Mikhail Tikhanov, who was brought on as
the expedition artist of Kamchatka. He was a
former serf who had been freed by his master,
Prince Nikolai Golitsyn, only a few years before
the voyage. For such a rigid society as Imperial
FIG. 1 (below left): Mikhail
Tikhanov, An Indian Caught
Tikhonov’s Hat and Ran
Away Next to a Shop in
Manila, Manila, 1818.
Lithograph after original watercolor,
from Vasily Golovnin (Ella Lury
Wiswell, trans.), 1979, Around the
World on the Kamchatka, 1817–
1819, Hawaiian Historical Society.
By Evgenia Lavrinenko