Coburn, Alvin Langdon (kō`bûrn), 1882–1936, American photographer, b. Boston. Coburn began making photographs at eight and was one of the younger members of Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Secession. Like others in the group, he was inspired to photograph the streets, parks, and buildings of New York City. He later became renowned for his thoughtful, perceptive portraits of European literary and artistic celebrities. Living and working in England most of his life, he produced superb photogravures of urban and marine scenes and landscapes that were widely published and exhibited. He experimented with a cubist aesthetic in his vortographs.
(born June 11, 1882, Boston, Mass., U.S.—died Nov. 23, 1966, Rhos-on-Sea, Denbighshire, Wales) U.S.-born British photographer. He did not take up photography seriously until he met Edward Steichen in 1899. In 1902 he opened a studio in New York City and joined the Photo-Secession. In 1904 he went to London with a commission to photograph celebrities; his memorable portraits include those of Auguste Rodin, Henry James, and George Bernard Shaw, the latter posing as Rodin's The Thinker. In 1917, influenced by Cubism and Futurism, he produced the first photographs depicting abstract compositions.
Bibliography
See his autobiography (1966) and study by M. Weaver (1986).
Coburn, Alvin Langdon
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The Octopus, New York, platinum print by Alvin Langdon Coburn, 1912.
(credit: The International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House)
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