The ethnographic album of painter P.M. Kosharov "Views of nature in Tian Shan" in the Scientific Library of Tomsk State University"
The main object of study is the ethnographic album of P.M. Kosharov "Views of nature in Tian Shan. Its Wild-Stone inhabitants and a large Horde of Kyrgyzes, their housing, clothing, weapons, utensils, dishes and so on". The album is kept in the Scientific Library of Tomsk State University. Its creation is associated with the participation of painter in 1857 in the famous expedition to Tian Shan led by traveler P.P. Semenov. During the expedition Kosharov created a large collection of paintings and graphic works depicting mountain landscapes, glaciers, types of the local population, their clothing, housing and household items. Into the album the painter has included 11 etudes, which depict the mountain ranges of Tian Shan, and 9 ethnographic drawings in which with a documentary accuracy captures every detail of household items. His work P.M. Kosharov accompanied with brief but very important clarifications, which are of great scientific value as a documentary source for the study of life and living conditions of the local population, who lived in the XIX century. The texts of all inscriptions are reproduced in the article. It can be assumed that with such an approach to the depiction of landscapes and everyday objects P.M. Kosharov proved himself not only as a great draftsman, but showed the abilities of the artist-researcher, which were highly appreciated by P.P. Semenov-Tian-Shanskiy.