James A. Haran (Portland, LaGrand)
Chronology
1903-1909 Portland
1925 LaGrande
Directory Listings
1904 PCD pg. 453 “Haran, James A., trav agt Fleischner, M & Co. res 446 Taylor”
1910 PCD not listed
1913 Polk’s Portland Blue Book pg. 60, membership roster of the Oregon Camera Club “Haran, Jas. A.”
1915 PCD pg. 555 “Haran, Jas A salsn FM&Co”
1925 PCD pg. 740 “Haran, Jas A slsmn FM&Co h LaGrande”
News Items and Advertisements
1903: (review of San Francisco Salon) “James A. Haran exhibits two good Indian pictures. The crying baby and the encouraging mother make a splendid group full of human interest. The difficult drapery is well handled in this photograph as well as in the other picture ‘A Siwash Belle,’ No. 86, the figure of a girl standing against a well-chosen background.” Camera Craft, Vol. VII, No 3, November 1903, pg. 214.
1904: (illustration) “Objects to Looking Pleasant by James A. Haran, Third San Francisco Salon” (Indian child portrait) Camera Craft, Vol. VIII, No 2, January 1904, pg. 79.
1905: Haran wins silver cup (first prize) for portraiture with “Portrait: a Greek Study”. Other Haran entries described in article are “Old Ocean’s Roll” (seascape), “Confidence” (portrait of Indian), “An Indian Madonna”, “Defiance”, “The Fortune Teller”, “Carnatrions” (flower study). “Oregon Camera Clubs Best Exhibit” Oregonian, 3 Dec 1905, pg. 40.
1907: “Oregon Camera Club Will Open Thirteenth Annual Exhibit Tomorrow.
TWO PHOTOGRAPHS WHICH WILL BE ON VIEW AT THE CAMERA CLUB EXHIBIT; Indian study by James A. Haran, and Drying Sails by H. F. Smith. In the Art Museum, corner of Fifth and Taylor streets, the Oregon Camera will open its thirteenth annual exhibit tomorrow afternoon. The pictures will be on view free of all charge every afternoon and evening of the coming week. No one but amatuers are allowed to compete for the nine cups to be given as prizes for the best work shown. Over two hundred photographs will be hung, the product of 38 of the best amateur photographers on the Pacific Coast. The contest is limited to club members. The best landscapes, marine, animal study, river and harbor views, flower study, genre (a picture that tells a story and must contain at least one human figure) portrait and still life will each be awarded a prize cup. Besides this, the Judd cup Is offered for the best collection, which must include not more than 10 nor less than six photographs. This cup must be won three times by some one person before it becomes the personal property of the winner. Henry G. Smith and George F. Holman have each won the Judd decision twice. Three judges will today decide which are the prize-winners; one judge is a professional photographer, another is an amateur, and the third is an artist not in photographic lines at all.
The Oregon Camera Club contains 160 members, whose residence is not confined to this city, nor are the subjects of the pictures limited to any particular section. The sole aim is to produce the best possible photographic effects regardless of all other requirements. Several of the pictures to be shown will come from club members in San Francisco and other cities.
The officers of the club are: James Tyrrell, president; James A. Haran, vice-president; J. V. Reid, secretary; and B. S. Durkee, treasurer. The exhibit this week will be one of the largest and best ever shown in America, as the Oregon Camera Club is one of the leading amateur photographic clubs in this country. It ranks with those of San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York City. Everything has been done to make this exhibit one of the most artistic ever seen in this city. Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, October 20, 1907, pg. 8, cols. 2-6. Two photos are reproduced “Indian study by James A. Haran; and Drying Sails by H. F. Smith”.
1909: “OREGON CAMERA CLUB ELECTIONS… annual election January 12th… result was as follows: … Board of Directors, …J. A. Haran…” Camera Craft, Vol. XVI, No. 3, March 1909, pg. 117.
1909: “Another Achievement added to the Oregon Camera Club’s annually more gratifying successes was its exhibition held in Steinway Hall, Portland, March twenty-second to twenty-seventh. The following comment on the pictures is abridged from the many full notices given by the ‘Portland Oregonian’ and other papers.
Attracting universal attention and favorable comment was the collection of ten pictures, the entry of J. A. Haran, which received the Judd cup for general excellency and high standard in landscape, portrait, marine, still-life, and genre. This series of pictures represents types of Irish life and the wild beauty of Ireland’s scenery. It would be difficult to find a collection of photographs that cover as varied and yet sincere sentiment as does that of Mr. Haran. With the exception of two studies, an Indian head, which took first prize for portraiture, and another, less interesting, all of Mr. Haran’s entries were taken in Ireland. ‘At Lough Gill, Ireland,’ is a view of a beautiful lake that poets and artists consider equal, if not superior, to the famed lakes of Killarney. This picturesque view shows the lovely, placid, broad-bosomed lake, the cattle in the foreground, and in splendid perspective the mountains gleam soft in the distance. One of the best in the collection was ‘The Spinning Wheel,’ which depicted an old Irish dame crooning over her work, the whole picture breathing contentment. ‘Irish Abby Reflections’ is the title of a photograph showing an abbey through an arch in the bridge. This photograph was given second prize for landscape.
In ‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’ was shown the interior of a fisherman’s hut. The fine execution and feeling in this picture made it a universal favorite. ‘The Cloisters, Sligo Abby, Ireland,’ was the title of a very large study, showing the ruins of another old abbey built in the twelfth century. Another of Mr. Haran’s was a portrait of a young girl’s head, illustrating the beautiful thought in Thomas Moore’s lines:
The portrait which received first prize, an Indian study, was one of the best and most faithful executions of the type of Flathead Indians ever exhibited in Portland. The profile is strongly lined and exceptionally well modeled…” Camera Craft, Vol. XVI, No. 5, May 1909, pg. 167-171. Illustrated is “Nakomis. First Prize Portrait. Copyrighted 1909. By J. A. Haran” on pg. 171
1910: “Oregon Camera Club On January eleventh, the Oregon Camera Club held its annual election … The officers elected for the ensuing year … Board of Directors, J. A. Haran …” Camera Craft, Vol. XVII, No. 2, February 1910, pg. 85, col. 1.