Baron Raimund von Stillfried, also known as Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Rathenitz (6 August 1839, in

Komotau Chomutov (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The historic city centre is well preserved and is protected as ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

– 12 August 1911, in Vienna,

Austrian-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

), was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n military officer and early professional

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

in Japan. His historical photographs of Japan following the end of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

in the 1870s have been appreciated for their documentary and artistic value and collected in international archives.

Biography

He was the son of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

(''Freiherr'') August Wilhelm Stillfried von Rathenitz (d. 1806) and

Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Maria Anna Johanna Theresia Walburge Clam-Martinitz (1802–1874). During his training at the Imperial Marine Academy, he also studied painting. After leaving his military career, Stillfried traveled to South America and China, and on to

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, Japan, in 1864. In 1871, he opened a

photographic studio A photographic studio is often a business owned and represented by one or more photographers, possibly accompanied by assistants and pupils, who create and sell their own and sometimes others’ photographs. History Since the early years of th ...

called ''Stillfried & Co.'', which operated until 1875. The same year, Stillfried formed a partnership with Hermann Andersen and the studio was renamed, '' Stillfried & Andersen'' (also known as the ''Japan Photographic Association''). This studio operated until 1885. In 1877, ''Stillfried & Andersen'' had bought the studio and stock of

Felice Beato Felice Beato (c. 1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian Briton, Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photography, war photographer ...

, for whom he had worked at the beginning of his career. During a trip overseas in the late 1870s, Stillfried also visited and photographed in

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Similar to Felice Beato, Stillfried was one of the leading photographers in Japan during the 1870s. He is known for his portrait photography and, like Felice Beato, also made numerous

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

and landscape photographs. Such images, which showed carefully staged

genre scenes Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

with people from foreign cultures as well as pictures of trips to regions and sights formerly unknown outside of Japan, were popular souvenirs for foreign residents or visitors. These images, often produced in high numbers and as hand-coloured

albumen print Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens, it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms aro ...

s, have become rare and valuable over time. For the 1873 Vienna World Exposition, the government of Japan commissioned Stillfried to travel to Hokkaido, where he took photographs documenting the process of the country's modernization, as well as of ethnic

Ainu people The Ainu are an Indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Ku ...

. According to a review of a

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

ic book on his life and work, "Stillfried came to Japan just as it was opening to trade, tourism, and Western influences. And with the collapse of the

, the new imperial government was figuring out how best to represent itself as a modern nation through photography, and Stillfried was well positioned to assist." In addition to his own photographic activities, Stillfried trained many Japanese photographers. In 1876, he sold the larger part of his stock to his protégé, the Japanese photographer

Kusakabe Kimbei Kusakabe Kimbei (日下部金兵衛; 1841–1934) was a Japanese photographer. He usually went by his given name, Kimbei, because his clientele, mostly non- Japanese-speaking foreign residents and visitors, found it easier to pronounce than his ...

, and left Japan forever in 1881. After travelling to

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, he eventually settled in Vienna in 1883. There, he also received an Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment as photographer (''k.u.k. Hof-Photograph''). Stillfried's photographs are presented online by the Nagasaki University Library, the

Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; ) is a Architecture museum, museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between rue Fort (Fort Street) and rue Saint-Ma ...

, as well as the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

, and some of his photographic work as well as his watercolour paintings are in the collection of the Musée Guimet of Asian Arts in Paris.

Selected works

File:Hodo Falls at Nikko by Raimund von Stillfried.jpg File:Japanese woman on her head by Baron von Stillfried.jpg File:Portrait of an Admiral by Baron von Stillfried.jpg File:Stillfried - Samurai.jpg File:Two monks with rosary by Raimund von Stillfried.jpg File:Japanese Tattoo by Kimbei or Stillfried.jpg

Literature

* Gartlan, Luke. ''A Career of Japan: Baron Raimund von Stillfried and Early Yokohama Photography''. Brill: Photography in Asia, Vol 1. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2016, 384 pp., 163 illus. .
Nagasaki University Library; Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period, s.v. "Stillfried"
Accessed 12 February 2007.
Union List of Artists Names, s.v. "Stillfried-Rathenitz, Raimund von, Baron"
. Accessed 11 December 2006.

References

External links

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Online collection, s.v. "Baron Raimund von Stillfried"

. Accessed 9 April 2020
66 photographs by "Raimund von (Baron) Stillfried"
on artnet.com, accessed 11 December 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stillfried, Raimund, Baron von 1839 births 1911 deaths Photographers from Austria-Hungary Expatriates in Japan German Bohemian people Austrian barons People from Chomutov Photography in Greece Photography in Japan Pioneers of photography Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court es:Raimund von Stillfried#top

Biography

Selected works

See also

Literature

References

External links