Henry King (7 March 1855 – 22 May 1923) was an English-born Australian photographer, known for his studies of

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

people and his views of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. King was one of Australia's most significant early photographers, described by the Australian Photographic Review as "stand nghigh in the esteem of the craft".

Life

Henry King was born in

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil ...

, Dorset, England, the son of a stonemason, William Isaac King 1832–1916 and his wife Eliza, née Tomes 1834–1912. King's family emigrated to Australia arriving in December 1856. In 1878 he married Elizabeth Lang.Richard King,
Henry King
', Australian Dictionary of Biography (retrieved 23 September 2013) King's career as a photographer began in the Sydney studio of J. Hubert Newman. From 1880 King had his owned studio, initially in partnership with William Slade, at 316 George Street Sydney. Between 1889 and 1894 King travelled widely in New South Wales and Queensland, making many photographic studies of Aboriginal Australians. These were generally half-length portraits, against a painted backdrop. King exhibited some of these portraits at the

World Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

at Chicago in 1893, receiving a bronze medal. King also printed and exhibited in Chicago many photographs from negatives taken by Reverend W.G. Lawes of people and scenes photographed in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and islands of the Pacific. In later years he turned to landscape photography, using the dry-plate technique, and produced a great many scenic views of Sydney. He also photographed notable views around New South Wales, including scenes of

Jenolan Caves The Jenolan Caves (Tharawal language, Tharawal: ''Binoomea'', ''Bindo'', ''Binda'') are limestone cave, limestone caves located within the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve in the Central Tablelands region, west of the Blue Mountains (New South ...

taken using magnesium flares. King died on 22 May 1923 aged 68, leaving his wife, a son and three daughters. He was buried at

Waverley Cemetery The Waverley Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on top of the cliffs at Bronte in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Opened in 1877 and built by R. Watkins (cemetery lodge, 1878) and P. Beddie (cemetery office, 1915 ...

. After King's death, many of his glass negatives were purchased by J. R. Tyrrell and passed to

Consolidated Press Holdings James Douglas Packer (born 8 September 1967) is an Australian billionaire businessman and investor. Packer is the son of Kerry Packer , a media mogul, and his wife, Roslyn Packer . He is the grandson of Sir Frank Packer. He inherited control o ...

. The Tyrrell Collection, which includes works by a number of Australian photographers, is now held by the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Park, Sydney, Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle ...

Exhibitions and honours

*1904, the ''Australian Photographic Review'' devoted an entire issue to King's photographs *1975, the Australian Centre for Photography held an exhibition of his Aboriginal portraits * His work was commissioned and exhibited by both the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

and the Society of Artists, Sydney. * The

holds a collection of his photographs and 1,300 glass negatives.Powerhouse Museum,
Henry King Photography Studio 1880–1900
', (retrieved 23 September 2013) * His work is held by the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

Trove
National Library of Australia, (retrieved 23 September 2013)

References

External links

National Film and Sound Archive, Australia

Tyrrell Photographic Collection, Powerhouse Museum

National Library of Australia- PicturesObituary in Australasian photo-review, Vol. 30 No. 10 (15 October 1923) pp523 via Trove
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Henry 1855 births 1923 deaths People from Swanage English emigrants to Australia Artists from Sydney 19th-century Australian photographers 20th-century Australian photographers

Life

Exhibitions and honours

See also

References

External links