Item #100285 An imposing portrait photograph of a young Aboriginal woman smoking a pipe. Indigenous Australian Portraiture, Charles P. SCOTT.
[Indigenous Australian Portraiture]. SCOTT, Charles P.

An imposing portrait photograph of a young Aboriginal woman smoking a pipe

A vintage sepia-toned gelatin silver portrait photograph on its original mount (external dimensions 268 × 268 mm), with a brown mat cut to display a circular image 210 mm in diameter.

The photograph is positioned so that the finished product presents as a diamond shape; it is both unusual and effective. Both the mat and photograph are in fine condition. The details of the photographer, 'Chas P. Scott, Waymouth Street, Adelaide', are blindstamped in the bottom right-hand corner of the mat. Charles Scott (1878-1928) is listed as a photographer at that address in South Australian directories 'from 1909 to 1915+' (Photohistory SA website). We have previously handled another example of this photograph, captioned 'Clara of Oodnadatta'. We have seen at least five separate items published in South Australia in the 1920s and 1930s where she appears on the front cover (in two variant photographs). We have recently received further information (thanks to the generosity of a private collector) that suggests Scott took these photographs at Allendale Station, near Oodnadatta, in 1903-04, and that Clara was later murdered by another Aboriginal women in 1915. We are interested to hear from anyone with additional information.

Item #100285

Price (AUD): $2,000.00