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Vortograph

1917
(British, 1882–1966)
America and England, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 20.2 x 26.4 cm (7 15/16 x 10 3/8 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 2004.33
Location: not on view
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Description

The expatriate American photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn, who permanently moved to London in 1912, was one of the leaders in avant-garde photography in the early 20th century. In his desire to create art that combined the physical with the spiritual, he produced an extraordinary yet tiny body of work between October 1916 and January 1917, calling the series Vortographs. In the history of the medium, these remarkable works were the first group of artistic photographs to be entirely abstract. Their subjects were reduced to the essential elements of light and form by placing a vortoscope, a triangular arrangement of mirrors, over the camera's lenses. This stunning picture is distinguished by its bold composition of ambiguous, reflected, and split shapes radiating vibrant light and energy. With such photographs, Coburn freed the camera from its obligation to represent reality, employing it instead to pursue pure pictorial invention.
Vortograph

Vortograph

1917

Alvin Langdon Coburn

(British, 1882–1966)
America and England, 20th century

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