Friday, December 27, 2019

Picturesque Athens in the Early Twentieth Century

Frédéric Boissonnas
Le Parthénon après l'orage
1910
photolithograph
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Charles Holroyd
Parthenon from its Interior
ca. 1911
watercolor
British Museum

Charles Holroyd
Parthenon from its Interior
1911
etching
British Museum

Joseph Pennell
Façade of the Parthenon, Sunset
1913
lithograph
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Joseph Pennell
Portico of the Parthenon, Athens
1913
lithograph
Art Institute of Chicago

from Oak and Olive

Though I was born a Londoner,
     And bred in Gloucestershire,
I walked in Hellas years ago
     With friends in white attire:
And I remember how my soul
     Drank wine as pure as fire.

And when I stand by Charing Cross
     I can forget to hear
The crash of all those smoking wheels,
     When those cold flutes and clear
Pipe with such fury down the street,
     My hands grow moist with fear.

And there's a hall in Bloomsbury
     No more I dare to tread,
For all those stone men shout at me
     And swear they are not dead;
And once I touched a broken girl
     And knew that marble bled.

But when I walk in Athens town
     That swims in dust and sun
Perverse, I think of London then
     Where massive work is done,
And with that sweep at Westminster
     The rayless waters run.

– James Elroy Flecker (1913)

Edward Steichen
Isadora Duncan in the Parthenon, Athens
1921
gelatin silver print
Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio)

Edward Steichen
Isadora Duncan in the Parthenon, Athens
1921
palladium print
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Edward Steichen
Isadora Duncan - Columns of the Parthenon
1921
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

Frédéric Boissonnas
Frise occidentale du Parthénon
1910
photolithograph
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Frédéric Boissonnas
Le Parthénon - Fronton occidental
1910
photolithograph
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

G.E. Kidder Smith
North Wall of the Parthenon, Athens
1938
gelatin silver print
Princeton University Art Museum

Walter Hege
Parthenon Frieze - Horsemen 
ca. 1928-29
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

Walter Hege
Temple of Athena Nike - East Facade - Frieze Figures
ca. 1928-29
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

Anonymous Photographer
The Parthenon, Athens
ca. 1905
photograph
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam