Grekov, Alexey Fedorovich

Born in the Yaroslavl province in the family of a small nobleman. Received a good education; studied in the 2nd Cadet Corps ^[1] (1822). Then he studied engineering and military affairs, showing a talent in mechanics . After serving for some time in the infantry regiment, in 1824 he retired from military service and carried out land surveying in the Kostroma province . He participated in the equipment of the provincial printing house and became a professional polygraphist.

Grekov experimented a lot and developed a new method of printing from various types of metal plates. Soon he published a work on flat printing . After moving to Moscow , where he began working as an assistant to the publisher of Moskovskiye Vedomosti , P. I. Shalikov , Grekov focused on electroplating and photography, which was gaining popularity. In 1840, he managed to achieve significant hardening of the daguerreotype image by applying a thin layer of gold to the plates using the electroplating technique. Grekov reported on his experiments in the Moscow Gazette.

As a typographer, Grekov was the first in Russia to use photography for printing purposes. In the same 1840, he was able to produce daguerreotype prints on paper using the previously developed flat printing technique. St. Petersburg, Paris and German publications wrote about Grekov’s success. The name of the inventor and his works are known in the circles of the Russian intelligentsia.

Alexey Grekov went down in the history of photography not only as an inventor, but also as the first Russian portrait photographer. In June 1840, he opened an “art cabinet” for everyone to get a portrait “the size of a snuff box”. To support his head, he arranged chairs with special pillows in his office. Exposure to the sun lasted two and a half minutes, in cloudy weather for four to five minutes. In 1841, Grekov published a brochure in which he described the technique of shooting, as well as (for the first time) the artistic aspects of photography.

Later, Grekov experimented with photosensitive paper and was the first in Russia to build daguerreotype "shells". In 1843 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he received the post of head of the printing house of the provincial government. In 1844 he published a book on electroforming. All the subsequent time, Grekov tried to pay off a huge debt, which he had before the Moscow printing house as a result of numerous experiments. Neither the books, nor the art salon, which could not compete with many photo studios opened in the capital by foreigners, did not help him fully pay off his debt. After Grekov's death in 1855, his widow remained indebted to the printing house.

• Description of metallography and the newly invented method of printing all kinds of metal boards (such as: copper, zinc, tin, etc.) various drawings and manuscripts without engraving on these boards with a chisel or strong vodka ... // Soch. V. Okergieskela [pseudo.] - St. Petersburg: typ. C. Wingeber, 1834
• A theoretical and practical guide to gilding, silvering, plating, tinning, etc. according to the newly discovered galvanic method, introduced already in France instead of ordinary gilding through fire as the cheapest and safest, with the addition of the method of casting medals and other images by means of electroplating and galvanography // Sost. A. G. - M .: Univ. typ., 1842

• Vladimir Levashov. Lectures on the history of photography. - 2nd ed .. - M .: LitRes , 2014. - ISBN 978-5-903788-63-7 .
• New about the inventor Alexey Grekov // " Technique - Youth ". - 1951. - No. 10. - S. 31—32

• About Alexei Grekov at Runivers.ru
• Biography of Alexei Grekov on the site Photo Watch