An American on the Acropolis: William James Stillman

Abstract

William James Stillman led a remarkable life, with stints as an artist, journalist, diplomat and spy. He also used photography in innovative ways to document the Athenian Acropolis. In college Stillman developed a special interest in classical studies, and he went on to befriend American and European intellectual luminaries. Most important for his aesthetic formation was John Ruskin, who became a close friend. Although the personal connection foundered, Ruskin's principles continued to inform Stillman's approach to art. In 1855 Stillman cofounded The Crayon, the first serious American journal of the arts. Then he embarked on a career as a diplomat, being posted as consul to Crete in 1865. Due to his support of a Cretan revolt against Ottoman rule, he had to flee in 1868 to Athens with his wife and children. Although his family was battered by a series of tragedies, Stillman undertook to photograph the monuments on the Acropolis. A selection of twenty-five photographs was published in London in 1870 as The Acropolis of Athens Illustrated Picturesquely and Architecturally in Photography. Stillman's photographs are unlike others produced at that time. His amateur status freed him from the professional's obligation to make pictures that conformed to a buyer's expectations. He could therefore explore unexpected angles and points of view on the Acropolis. Stillman did so with the double aim of demonstrating refinements in the artistry and construction of the monuments, and, more broadly, of expressing his idealization of ancient Athens and his larger artistic and political concerns. I contend that the album is meant to be read sequentially as an exposition of what Stillman saw as the uniquely Greek amalgam of art and democracy.