Art Collections Online

Hello there, This is an old thread but I thought I would comment that I have just come across a letter from 'Brocas' to the artist Duncan Grant in an uncatalogued archive in London. Brocas is writing from a ship and is on his way back to his family in South Africa; I have no doubt that it is Brocas Harris who is writing. The letter is dated September 24th to 28th with no year given. Do contact me if this might be of interest, either to the National Museum of Wales or to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum in S.A. (I left my email address in order to leave a comment, so you should be able to find me). Best wishes, Dr. Sophie Pickford.

Just a note to follow up this enquiry - I understand that one of our curators has been in touch.

To update the page: We've looked through our records and we don’t seem to have any information on the sitter – it was acquired as part of a group of works by Morris but with no information beyond the name of the sitter. There’s seems to be a good chance it’s the same person, based on the information Dr Hillebrand has provided, but unfortunately we don’t have any information that can help.

Sara
Digital Team

Hi there Dr Hillebrand,

We have chased this up again for you, there's no excuse for the delay and I will be passing your feedback on to the appropriate members of staff. Please accept my apology for the delay, and for the inconvenience,

Sara
Digital Team

Well, this is getting a little embarrassing - 20 October and still no response.

Hi Melanie,

I will of course get in touch with my colleagues to ask them about this,


Sara

Dear Sara Huws,
Could you please give your art department a friendly reminder regarding my query - haven't heard from them yet.

Thanks for your comment Dr Hillebrand.

I will pass your enquiry on to our art department, so that they can hopefully shed some light on Brocus Harris' life for you.

Sara H
Digital Team

I am the Director of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. We have in our collection a painting by Sir Cedric Morris called "Blue Jays". It was bequeathed to us by N Brocas Harris, our first Board Chairman, after his death in 1987. I am currently researching Mr Brocus Harris. He had a strong personal connection with Robert Bevan, the son of Bevan, the artist, and with Cedric Morris. I am curious to know whether this portrait is of our Mr Brocus Harris. Do you perhaps have any information on the sitter for this portrait that could assist me in my research?