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GROS, H.F : Fortified Residence of Capt. Dahl. Klipdam Dist. Zioutpansberg

H F Gros, Pretoria Ca. 1888

H.F. Gros' Pictorial Description of the Transvaal #516. A fine example of this attractive photograph, measuring 245 x 190mm. H.F. Gros. Of Swiss origin, Gros was one of the most important early photographers in the Transvaal. Arriving in South Africa about 1869 (see N. Cowan, 'The photograficana of H.F. Gros', 'Africana Notes and News', Vol. 23, No. 3, Sept 1979 pp. 99-104, from which much of this information is abstracted), the earliest record of his photographic activities is an advertisement in the 'Burghersdorp Gazette' of 16 July 1870 stating that his photographic saloon will 'resume again.' In the following two years he appears to have been in partnership with the firm of Weber and Gros at Bloemfontein, of which he assumed full ownership in 1872 as well as opening his 'Superb Saloon' at New Rush ('Diamond News', 9 March 1872). During 1874 and 1875 he visited the Lydenburg gold fields photographing activities at Pilgrim's Rest and Mac Mac ('Diamond News', 9 May 1874 and 13 February 1875) and several of these prints can be found at Y3055B. The exact date of his removal to Pretoria is unknown, but he had certainly settled there by late 1876, his 'photographic gallery' being advertised in the first edition of 'Transvaal book almanac and directory for 1877' (Pietermaritzburg, 1877), but like almost all directories and commercial handbooks, prepared in the autumn of the previous year for early release. Gros was at this time also a member of the Aurora Lodge of Masons in Pretoria. He built up a photographic practice from a studio at the corner of Church Street and Market Square and took several group portraits of the officials who made up the annexation commission of 1877 (see Y3055H). During the siege of Pretoria he made the important record of his life in the blockaded town seen in this collection, although he is only mentioned once in Du Val's memoirs: 'A photographic artist of Pretoria, Swiss by birth, and 'Gros' by name, who had taken numerous pictures of our camp life, kindly photographed the broad sheet of type into a microscopic three-inch square production.' (This résumé of the state of affairs in Pretoria, intended for smuggling past the Boer blockade, was sent out three times, but no copy appears to have reached its destination. The despatch itself is almost certainly the cutting pasted into the RCS volume opposite plates 9- 10). (Du Val, Vol. II, p.145) After the lifting of the siege and the retrocession of the Transvaal back into Boer hands, Gros made photographic tours of the Transvaal which resulted in the two album publication with printed title page called 'Picturesque aspects of the Transvaal' (1888, although some of the photographs included were certainly taken at a later date). He left South Africa for Europe in 1895, his Pretoria studio being taken over by J. Perrin.

Early printing

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