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

Komotau Chomutov (; german: Komotau) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The city centre is well preserved and is protec ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

– 12 August 1911, in Vienna,

Austrian-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...

), was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n military officer and early professional

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

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

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

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, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

(''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.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...

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 second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, 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. Since the early years of the 20th ce ...

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 (1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, ...

, 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 (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

, and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. 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 form or type 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 for ...

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 The albumen print, also called albumen silver print, was published in January 1847 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, and was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative. It us ...

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 the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...

. According to a review of a

monographic A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograp ...

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 ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

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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 estima ...

, he eventually settled in Vienna in 1883. There, he also received an

Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment An Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment () during the Austro-Hungarian Empire was issued to vendors who supplied goods or services to the Austrian imperial court in Vienna and/or the Hungarian royal court in Budapest. The warrant was norma ...

as photographer (''k.u.k. Hof-Photograph''). Stillfried's photographs are presented online by the

Nagasaki University is a national university of Japan. Its nickname is ''Chōdai'' (). The main campus is located in Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. History Nagasaki University was established in 1949 by incorporating several nation ...

Library, the

Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) 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 r ...

, 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 housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

, 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 and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

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

. Accessed 09 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 19th-century Austrian photographers Austrian expatriates in Japan Austrian people of German Bohemian descent Barons of Austria 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