Stillman, Ruskin & Rossetti: The Struggle Between Nature and Art

Abstract

Abstract The career of the American landscape painter and photographer, William James Stillman, represent one of the most important and useful opportunities to explore the fundamental conflicts in the ideologies of painting and a new medium which overturned tradition in the mid 19th century. Neglected now as a painter, with his magnificent photographically illustrated volume, The Acropolis of Athens 2 recognized by only a few critics and collectors, Stillman was, nevertheless, accorded the high honour of being titled ‘America's first Pre-Raphaelite painter’ 3 W. J. Stillman, op. cit., Vo1. 1, p. 117. , and he was, without question, one of the most influential American art critics and editors. He was, in fact, the editor of America's first art journal, The Crayon (January 1855–June 1856), and from 1858 to 1902 he published numerous book reviews, essays of art criticism, journalistic accounts of affairs abroad during his diplomatic adventures, as well as scholarly articles for such well-known magazines as the Nation, Century, Atlantic, and the Contemporary Review. If he never achieved the reputation of Emerson, Longfellow or Oliver Wendell Holmes, he was an intimate associate of the Cambridge, Boston and Concord literati, and with John Holmes helped to found the Adirondack Club. His books covered a wide variety of subjects, from archaeology to literature, photography, travel and painting.