Diane Vogt O'Connor Photograph Collection

Scope and Contents

Three handcolored albumen prints, one of Kamata Yashiki Garden in Tokyo; and two depicting Japanese women: one attributed to Baron Raimond Von Stillfired of Austria (1839-1911), circa 1879, depicting Japanese women in an architectural setting, and the other attributed to Kusakabe Kimbei (active 1880's), circa 1878, showing two seated Japanese women playing go in an architectural interior.

Scope and Contents

蒲田梅屋敷

Arrangement

1.5 linear feet

Biographical / Historical

Diane Vogt O'Connor is an archivist. She received her master's in library and information science in 1980 from Wayne State University. She began her long career at the Corning Glass Works as the Archives Director between 1976-1980. O'Conner then became the Library Director at the Cranbook Academy of Art between 1980-1983. O'Connor joined the Smithsonian Institution Archives in 1983 as an archivist and became a supervisory archivist in 1986. In 1993, she joined the National Park Service as a senior archivist. In 2000, she joined the National Archives and Records Administration as the senior archivist for Regional and Affiliated Archives. Between 2006-2013, O'Connor was the Chief of Conservation for the Library of Congress. Currently, O'Connor works as an archival consultant for both private and public institutions. She has published a number of books and guides related to collections, archives, and museology.

Baron Raimund von Stillfried (1839-1911) was an Austrian military officer and photographer of late Tokugawa era Japan. Stillfried became one of the leading photographers in Japan in the 1870s and was known for his portraiture and genre scene photographs. Stillfried was part of the Austro-Hungarian army between 1859-1863. Upon completion, Stillfried began a tour of the world which ended in Japan in 1864. In 1871, Stillfried opened his own photographic studio, Stillfried and Co., in Yokohama, becoming a successful commercial photographer. In 1875, Stillfried formed a partnership with Hermann Anderson and renamed the studio to Stillfried and Anderson, also known as the Japan Photographic Association. In addition to his photography, Stillfried trained many Japanese photographers, including Kusakabe Kimbei. In 1876, he sold his stock to Kusakabe and left Japan in 1881. He settled in Vienna in 1883, continuing to work as a photographer. Stillfried died in Vienna in 1911.

Kusakabe Kimbei (1841-1934) was a Japanese photographer, noted for his portrayal of female subjects in bijin-ga (beautiful women) style commonly seen in ukiyo-e prints. He began his career in photography as an assistant to Felice Beato at the age of fifteen or sixteen. He later worked under Baron Raimund von Stillfried as a photographic colorist and assistant in the 1870s. Kusakabe purchased Stillfried's stock in 1876 and opened his own studio in 1881 in Yokohama. In addition to his photography, Kusakabe became a dealer of photographs by other photographers. As Yokohama was a major port city, his photographs were a popular souvenir for foreign customers who were interested in the traditional styles of Japan as the country began its rapid modernization in the Meiji era. Kusakabe closed his studio in 1913 and retired in 1914.