79 A Christian anarchist

Lev Tolstoy (1828-1910), who wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina, later became an ascetic, non-violent Christian anarchist. Enormously influential, he acquired an international following.  On this photograph from 1910 he is sorting the mail on his estate Yasnaya Polyana at Tula with his secretary Valentin Bulgakov, author of The Last Year of Lev Tolstoy. The photographer was Vladimir Chertkov, Tolstoy’s right-hand man, who disseminated his ideas in myriad ways.

Valentin Fedorovič Bulgakov and Lev Nikolaevič Tolstoj
Vladimir Grigor’evič Čertkov
1910
Photograph, 15 x 10

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