Summary

Glass plate negative portrait of a small child playing with a toy (landscape) and sitting in a feeding chair on a rug (portrait), presumably taken by studio photographer, Robert William Harvie.

This image may depict one of Mr Harvie's daughters or nephews, however, the identity of the child is unclear. The photograph appears to have been taken in a studio and therefore may have been taken in Mr Harvie's photography studio, Harvie & Sutcliffe. See MM 043239 for a similar glass negative.

Robert Harvie was a professional photographer who, with his business partner Albert Sutcliffe, owned a photography studio named Harvie & Sutcliffe between 1898 and 1908, located in the Cromwell Buildings, 366a Bourke Street, corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, Melbourne.

The Harvie Collection includes examples of Robert Harvie's private and professional photographic practice. A number of the photographs depict the family life of four generations of the Harvie family, including the Lang family.

The Harvie and Lang families had social significance in Melbourne through their active involvement in early Australian vegetarian movements, early moving film, photography and architecture, as well as various other cultural societies and clubs in Melbourne.

Description of Content

Double exposure of a small child eating in high chair eating and playing with toys. Exposure on the left is landscape in format and depicts the small child playing with what appears to be a wagon filled with soil in front of a white background in a studio or a shed. Exposure on the right is portrait in format and depicts the child sitting in a high chair with a rug beneath its feet. The child is holding its arms up off the tray with a tea cup and plate on it and is staring out the left of the frame.

Physical Description

Glass plate negative, black and white, landscape format. Two exposures.

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