Finding aid for Felix Alexander Oppenheim, Photographies d'Athènes
Beth Ann Guynn
Descriptive Summary
Title: Felix Alexander Oppenheim, Photographies d'Athènes,
Date (inclusive): 1854
Number: 90.R.76
Creator/Collector:
Oppenheim, F. A. (Felix Alexander ),
1819-1898
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
1 album
(20 photographs)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The album contains 20 views of the
Acropolis and monuments in Athens, Greece taken by German photographer F. A. Oppenheim in
1853.
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Language: Collection material is in
German.
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
Administrative Information
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
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.
Digitized Material
The collection was digitized by the repository and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/96r76
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
Arrangement
Arranged in a single series: Series I. Photographies d'Athènes, 1854.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Topics
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) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Temples -- Greece -- Athens
Subjects - Places
Athens (Greece) -- Antiquities
Athens (Greece) -- Description and
travel
Genres and Forms of Material
Photographs, Original.
Albumen prints -- Greece -- 19th century
Contributors
Oppenheim, F. A. (Felix Alexander ),
1819-1898
Series I.
Photographies d'Athènes,
1854
box 1, page Front paste-down
endpaper
90.R.76-fpe
Front paste-down endpaper
box 1, page Front free endpaper
recto
90.R.76-ffer
Front free endpaper
box 1, page Verso of front free
endpaper
90.R.76-ffev
Verso of front free endpaper
box 1, page 1 recto
90.R.76-1r
Die Akropolis von der Pynx aus gesehn
box 1, page 2 recto
90.R.76-2r
Die Propylæen, aussere Ansicht
box 1, page 3 recto
90.R.76-3r
Temple des Theseus und Herakles, südöstliche Ansicht
box 1, page 4 recto
90.R.76-4r
Temple des Theseus und Herakles, südwestliche Ansicht
box 1, page 5 recto
90.R.76-5r
Die Propylæen, innere Ansicht
box 1, page 6 recto
90.R.76-6r
Theseus-Tempel und Akropolis
box 1, page 7 recto
90.R.76-7r
Fries des Parthenon
Scope and Content Note
Poseidon, Apollo, and Artemis from block E VI of the east frieze.
box 1, page 8 recto
90.R.76-8r
Der Parthenon, innere Ansicht
box 1, page 9 recto
90.R.76-9r
Fries des Parthenon
Scope and Content Note
The four hydriaphoroi from block N VI of the north frieze.
box 1, page 10 recto
90.R.76-10r
Das Horologion des Andronokos Cyrrhestes
box 1, page 11 recto
90.R.76-11r
Der Parthenon, östliche Front
box 1, page 12 recto
90.R.76-12r
Wasserleitung des Horologion
box 1, page 13 recto
90.R.76-13r
Denkmal des Lysikrates
box 1, page 14 recto
90.R.76-14r
Thor des Hadrian und Tempel des Zeus Olympios
box 1, page 15 recto
90.R.76-15r
Thor des Hadrian und Akropolis
box 1, page 16 recto
90.R.76-16r
Das Erechtheion, südliche Ansicht
box 1, page 17 recto
90.R.76-17r
Fries des Parthenon
Scope and Content Note
Block N XXXIV from the north frieze.
box 1, page 18 recto
90.R.76-18r
Tempel des Zeus Olympios, westliche Ansicht
box 1, page 19 recto
90.R.76-19r
Fries des Parthenon
box 1, page 20 recto
90.R.76-20r
Tempel des Zeus Olympios, nordöstliche Ansicht
box 1, page 21 recto
90.R.76-21r
First page of text
box 1, page 21 verso
90.R.76-21v
2nd page of text
box 1, page Back paste-down
endpaper
90.R.76-bpe
Back paste-down endpaper
