Artist

John K. Hillers

born Hanover, Germany 1843-died Washington, DC 1925
Also known as
  • Jack Hillers
  • J. K. Hillers
Born
Hanover, Germany
Died
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Active in
  • New Mexico, United States
  • Arizona, United States
Biography

Photographer. A German immigrant, Hillers found employment as a boatman on John Wesley Powell's 1871 survey of the Colorado River. By first assisting and then substituting for the expedition's official photographer, Hillers progressed quickly, showing a natural aptitude for the medium. The next year he was made chief photographer for the survey.

From 1879–1880, Hillers accompanied a Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) survey into New Mexico and Arizona, where he photographed Canyon de Chelly, the Rio Grande pueblos, and Zuni. His portraits of the Indians and their homes and villages tell much about their social structure and lifestyle.

During his long career, Hillers made some twenty thousand negatives for the U.S. Geological Survey and the BAE; many are works of high artistic and technical merit, satisfying both as pictorial views and historical documents.

References
Darrah, William Culp. "Bedman, Fennemore, Hillers, Dellenbaugh, Johnson and Hattan: Photographers and Other Members of the Expedition." Utah Historical Quarterly 16–17 (1948–49): 491–503.

Debooy, H. T. "Pioneer Photographers." New Mexico Magazine 37 (February 1959): 22–23.

Coke. Photography in New Mexico.

Ballinger and Rubinstein. Visitors to Arizona, 1846–1980, pp. 94–95.

Charles Eldredge, Julie Schimmel, and William H. Truettner Art in New Mexico, 1900–1945: Paths to Taos and Santa Fe (Washington, DC: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1986)

Works by this artist (162 items)

Chiura Obata, El Capitán, 1931, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Obata Family, 2000.76.24, © 1989, Lillian Yuri Kodani
El Capitán
Date1931
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Chiura Obata, Untitled (Magnolia in a Blue Round Vase), ca.1930s, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Chiura Obata, 2020.74
Untitled (Magnolia in a Blue Round Vase)
Dateca.1930s
ink on paper
Not on view
Chiura Obata, Landslide, 1941, watercolor on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Chiura Obata, 2020.72.2
Landslide
Date1941
watercolor on paper
Not on view
Chiura Obata, Topaz, ca. 1942, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Chiura Obata, 2020.72.5
Topaz
Dateca. 1942
pencil on paper
Not on view