Arthur Elliott

Arthur Elliot (1870-1938) was a Cape Town based painter and photographer, famous for his more than 13,000 photographs of historic places, buildings and events in South Africa.

Born in the USA of Scottish parents, raised in Scotland, he did various jobs till he arrived in South Africa in 188*, here too trying out a number of options before finding his niche.

He died in Cape Town in 1938

His work in theatre
Initially employed in Johannesburg by Luscombe Searelle from 1891 to paint scenery for his company. His first job was on Forget-Me-Not starring Genevieve Ward, for which he was paid £18 15s. ** He moved to Cape Town in 189*, and was given a camera as a gift. This led to a career as a salesman of photographic equipment and photographic images (an avid photographer, he not only took his own photos of the people and the architectural heritage of Cape Town, but also copied relevant historic images and paintings as an archival exercise). He was for a while a partner of Hedley Churchward. His more than 13,000 photographic negatives are in the Archives in Cape Town and a book on his work (A Cape Camera, by cultural historian Hans Fransen), was published by Ad Donker Publishers in 1993.

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