SIGNED, PORTFOLIO NUMBER 795, Witwatersrand Heritage, Commemorative Issue, Portfolio One, Crown Mines Est 1909.
COLLECTION OF FOUR LARGE LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTS, WITWATERSRAND HERITAGE COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE PORTFOLIO ONE CROWN MINES EST. 1900. ISSUED ON OCCASION OF THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE GOLD MINE MUSEUM. NO. 14 SHAFT, CROWN MINES, JOHANNESBURG, 5 JUNE 1980.
SIGNED BY HELEN ARON, PHOTOGRAPHED AND PUBLISHED BY HELEN ARON. NUMBER 795 OF AN LIMITED EDITION OF 1000. IN ORIGINAL SLIPCASE, CONDITION AS SHOWN IN PICTURE.. PRINTS MEASURE: 36.5 cms x 26 cms, PORTFOLIO CASE SHOWS SOME WEAR OTHERWISE CONTENTS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.
LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTS ARE
1. UNDERGROUND RAIL EXCAVATED FOR SALVAGE. NO. 15 SHAFT, CROWN MINES LTD., ORMONDE, JOHANNESBURG. PHOTOGRAPHED BY HELEN ARON 1972
2. SPARE SHEAVE WHEEL FOR THE HEADGEARAND GENERAL RECLAMATION MATERIAL. NO. 15 SHAFT, CROWN MINES LTD., ORMONDE, JOHANNESBURG. PHOTOGRAPHED BY HELEN ARON 1972
3. SURFACE RAIL TRUCKS USED FOR HAULING GOLD BEARING ORE TO THE MILL. NO. 15 SHAFT, CROWN MINES LTD., ORMONDE, JOHANNESBURG. PHOTOGRAPHED BY HELEN ARON 1972
4. NO. 15 SHAFT HEADGEAR, CROWN MINES LTD., ORMONDE, JOHANNESBURG. TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF RAND MINES LTD. LATTICE GIRDER DESIGN OF THE 1920s. PHOTOGRAPHED BY HELEN ARON 1980.
Art publishing impresario and photographer Helen Aron was a unique Johannesburg character. A documentary and art photographer of Johannesburgs disappearing past and a woman of passion, intelligence, flair and great courage.
Aron was a daughter of Yeoville when it was very much a Jewish suburb with its synagogues and Jewish bakeries and grocery stores along Raleigh and Rockey Streets. She was unusual in that unlike most other Jewish people, she continued to live in this node of Johannesburg Yeoville, Berea, Hillbrow and Bellevue for her entire life.
Helen was a champion of Parktown (or Park Town as she always called it). She undertook the massive project of the special commemorative boxed portfolio Park Town 1892 1972, with 51 of her photographic images of disappearing Parktown together with commissioning the significant book on Parktown with the essays by Clive Chipkin, Arnold Benjamin and Shirley Zar.
In 1980 Helen published a limited edition of a portfolio titled Witwatersrand Heritage Commemorative Issue portfolio one .. Crown Mines est. 1909; this comprised four sepia toned photographs of the Crown Mines site taken by her in 1972 plus a folio page about the establishment of Crown Mines Ltd and its later history and a final reproduction of the share certificates. Franco Frescura designed and handled the lay-out of the historical information sheet. It was a limited edition of 1000. The somewhat nostalgic look was achieved with the decorative, overly elaborate scroll borders, giving the set the appearance of a modern day adaptation of an illuminated manuscript. But the photographs convey a severe and sombre mood. The favourite of this selection is the image of No 15 Shaft headgear at Crown Mines, with wild Highveld African grass in the foreground. The light and shade is the grass giving that look of abandonment of an old mine property. Crown Mines became the site of Gold Reef City and that faux heritage re-creation of Johannesburg circa 1890. That was heritage as fun fair and entertainment! Helen did not approve.
