Finding aid for Felix Alexander Oppenheim, Photographies d'Athènes 90.R.76
Beth Ann Guynn
Special Collections
2020
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Felix Alexander Oppenheim, Photographies d'Athènes,
Creator:
Oppenheim, F. A. (Felix Alexander ), 1819-1898
Identifier/Call Number: 90.R.76
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
1 album
(20 photographs)
Date: 1854
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection.
Click here for the
access policy .
Abstract: The album contains 20 views of the Acropolis and monuments in Athens, Greece taken by German
photographer F. A. Oppenheim in 1853.
Language of Material: Collection material is in German.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Felix Alexander Oppenheim, Photographies d'Athènes, 1854, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 90.R.76.
https://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa90r76
Scope and Contents
The album contains 20 views of the Acropolis and monuments in Athens, Greece taken by Felix Alexander Oppenheim in 1853. Monuments
depicted include the
Propylaia; the Parthenon, including four individual blocks of its frieze; the Erechtheion; the Hephaisteion (Temple of Theseus
and Herakles); the
Horologion of Andronikos (Tower of the Winds); the Monument of Lysikrates; the Arch of Hadrian; and the Olympieion (Temple
of Olympian Zeus).
The photographs are followed by "Die untere Stadt," the two-page text aqccompanying the third section of his album
Athenische
Alterthüme
.
Captions are printed in German on the mounts below the images; the captions have been used as image titles.
Biographical / Historical
The German photographer, Felix Alexander Oppenheim (1819-1898), began his career as a lawyer. The youngest son of Martin Wilhelm
Oppenheim, a banker,
and his wife Rosa (née Alexander), Oppenheim was born in Königsberg. After leaving the Königsberg Altstädtische Gymnasium
in 1836, Oppenheim studied
law. He was acting as legal counsel for Countess Sophie von Hatzfeld against her husband, Edmund Fürst von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg
zu Trachenberg, when, in
the summer of 1846, he and Dr. Arnold Mendelssohn stole a box containing documents belonging to Baroness Meyendorf, the mistress
of Prince Edmund von
Hatzfeld-Wildenburg, which they thought might contain information pertinent to the Hatzfeld case. The men were discovered
and fled. Although Oppenheim
soon turned himself into the police and was subsequently acquitted of the theft, he he could no longer practice law.
Leaving Germany, and with no need to work, Oppenheim began to travel extensively. In late 1851 or early 1852 he studied photography
with Gustav Le
Gray. He then traveled and photographed in Spain in 1852 where, finding that waxed-paper negatives were difficult to produce
in hot climates, he
experimented with albumen and sugar milk (whey). His letter about his experiences was published in
La Lumière (no. 15, 9
April 1853), and subsequently in
Humphrey's Journal (no. 4, June 1, 1853), and
Photographic Art
Journal
(no. 3, September 1853).
In the fall of 1853, Oppenheim traveled in Greece.
Athenische Alterthüme, his album of the antiquities of Athens
containing a total of 42 salted paper photographs, appeared in 1854 (wherein his name was printed as A. F. Oppenheim). It
was divided into three
sections, each with an accompanying text: "Die Akropolis," "Details der Akropolis," and "Die unterer Stadt."
Oppenheim returned to Germany in 1857, settling in Dresden. He began to make photographs of German cities and buildings. Among
other subjects he
photographed the Dresden buildings designed by architect Gottfried Semper who was a family friend.
Sources consulted:
Szwast, Miriam.
Felix Alexander Oppenheim: a Traveling Photographer in Athens in 1853: Searching for Traces. Volume 3
of Photography Collection, Museum Ludwig Sammlung Fotografie. Cologne: Museum Ludwig, 2020.
Truog, Alain R., "'Silent Ruins, F. A. Oppenheim Photographs the Ancient World' at the Ludwig Museum."
http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2020/02/13/38021198.html
Arrangement
Arranged in a single series: Series I. Photographies d'Athènes, 1854.
Digitized Material
The collection was digitized by the repository and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/90r76
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 1990.
Processing Information
Cataloged by Jamie Allen in 2005 under the supervision of Beth Ann Guynn who wrote the finding aid in 2020.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Olympieion (Athens, Greece)
Parthenon (Athens, Greece)
Erechtheum (Athens, Greece)
Propylaea (Acropolis, Athens, Greece)
Hephaisteion (Athens, Greece)
Arch of Hadrian (Athens, Greece)
Acropolis (Athens, Greece)
Tower of the Winds (Athens, Greece)
Athens (Greece) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Architecture, Greek -- Greece -- Athens
Athens (Greece) -- Antiquities
Athens (Greece) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Photographs, Original.
Albumen prints -- Greece -- 19th century
Temples -- Greece -- Athens
Athens (Greece) -- Description and travel
Photographies d'Athènes, Series I.
1854
Photographies d'Athènes par F. A. Oppenheim, Dresde, 1854 (digitized version)
box 1, page Front paste-down
endpaper
Front paste-down endpaper 90.R.76-fpe
box 1, page Front free endpaper
recto
Front free endpaper 90.R.76-ffer
box 1, page Verso of front free
endpaper
Verso of front free endpaper 90.R.76-ffev
box 1, page 1 recto
Die Akropolis von der Pynx aus gesehn 90.R.76-1r
box 1, page 2 recto
Die Propylæen, aussere Ansicht 90.R.76-2r
box 1, page 3 recto
Temple des Theseus und Herakles, südöstliche Ansicht 90.R.76-3r
box 1, page 4 recto
Temple des Theseus und Herakles, südwestliche Ansicht 90.R.76-4r
box 1, page 5 recto
Die Propylæen, innere Ansicht 90.R.76-5r
box 1, page 6 recto
Theseus-Tempel und Akropolis 90.R.76-6r
box 1, page 7 recto
Fries des Parthenon 90.R.76-7r
Scope and Contents
Poseidon, Apollo, and Artemis from block E VI of the east frieze.
box 1, page 8 recto
Der Parthenon, innere Ansicht 90.R.76-8r
box 1, page 9 recto
Fries des Parthenon 90.R.76-9r
Scope and Contents
The four hydriaphoroi from block N VI of the north frieze.
box 1, page 10 recto
Das Horologion des Andronokos Cyrrhestes 90.R.76-10r
box 1, page 11 recto
Der Parthenon, östliche Front 90.R.76-11r
box 1, page 12 recto
Wasserleitung des Horologion 90.R.76-12r
box 1, page 13 recto
Denkmal des Lysikrates 90.R.76-13r
box 1, page 14 recto
Thor des Hadrian und Tempel des Zeus Olympios 90.R.76-14r
box 1, page 15 recto
Thor des Hadrian und Akropolis 90.R.76-15r
box 1, page 16 recto
Das Erechtheion, südliche Ansicht 90.R.76-16r
box 1, page 17 recto
Fries des Parthenon 90.R.76-17r
Scope and Contents
Block N XXXIV from the north frieze.
box 1, page 18 recto
Tempel des Zeus Olympios, westliche Ansicht 90.R.76-18r
box 1, page 19 recto
Fries des Parthenon 90.R.76-19r
box 1, page 20 recto
Tempel des Zeus Olympios, nordöstliche Ansicht 90.R.76-20r
box 1, page 21 recto
First page of text 90.R.76-21r
box 1, page 21 verso
2nd page of text 90.R.76-21v
box 1, page Back paste-down
endpaper
Back paste-down endpaper 90.R.76-bpe
