Harris, Robert, fl. 1880-1899 (photographer)
Dates
- Existence: fl. 1880 - 1894
Biography
Robert Harris was a commercial photographer active in South Africa. He had a studio at Donkin Street, Port Elizabeth, 1880-1890 (Bensusan 1963, p.236). He exhibited photographs at the Port Elizabeth Exhibition 1885 and the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886. From 1891 to 1894 Harris was in partnership with Thomas McKnaught (Bensusan 1963, p.236). Harris produced a number of photographically illustrated books.
Publications:
Cowan, Charles (1882), 'Southampton to South Africa'. [Contains photographs by Harris]
Harris, R. (c. 1876), 'Photographic views of Port Elizabeth and neighbourhood'.
Harris, R. (188?), 'Photographic album of South African scenery'.
Harris, R. (1888), 'South Africa illustrated'.
Sources:
Bensusan, A.D. (1963), '19th century photographers in South Africa'. 'Africana notes and news'. Volume 15, number 6, pp.219-252.
Found in 9 Collections and/or Records:
Bronker's [Bronkhorst] Spruit, Pretoria and Middleburg Road, 1888
192 x 127 mm. Showing Bronkhorst Spruit in the foreground, crossed by the Pretoria - Middleburg Road in the background.
Church Street, Pretoria, 1888
192 x 125 mm. A view looking along Church Street East, Pretoria, towards Church Square, with two African women in the foreground.
Dutch Reformed Church, Pretoria, 1888
190 x 124 mm. Showing the newly completed Dutch Reformed Church in Church square, with a wagon and a span of oxen drawn up in front of the building. The church, which was inaugurated in January 1885, replaced the one which was burned down in 1882.
Entrance to Pretoria, Middleburg Road, 1888
191 x 124 mm. This is presumably the point at which Church Street East crosses the Apies River.
Grahamstown Gold Mining Company, 1888
192 x 126 mm. Showing miners at work in the excavated trench of the Grahamstown Gold Mining Company at Johannesburg.
Johannesburg, Witwatersrand, Transvaal, 1886 - 1887
192 x 125 mm. Showing the city of Johannesburg in its early stages, with single-storey buildings and tents on the Witwatersrand ridge. A photograph probably taken in 1886-7 during the first year of the city's life. Surface gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand in 1884 but it was not officially declared an open mining area until 1886.
Lovers' Walk, Pretoria, 1888
191 x 125 mm. Showing a pony trap on a tree-lined path with a stream in the foreground.
Morning market, Johannesburg, 1888
193 x 125 mm. Showing wagons and long spans of oxen in the open market square at Johannesburg.
The Wonderboom, near Pretoria, 1888
191 x 125 mm. A close up view of the wonderboom, a wild fig tree outside Pretoria estimated to be over a thousand years old.