Alvin Langdon Coburn

American, 1882–1966

Alvin Langdon Coburn was one of the foremost photographic artists of the modern age. His career lasted for six decades, spanning and championing the transition from pictorialism to abstraction. He became the first major photographer to emphasize the visual potential of elevated viewpoints and later made some of the first completely abstract photographs. His most well known works were also his last take in the United States in 1912. From the top of New York City skyscrapers he pointed the camera directly at the street, eliminating the horizon line, and flattening perspective to emphasize abstraction. A meticulous printer, his unrelenting search for techniques to convey his unique vision resulted in his becoming one of the pioneers of modern photographic technique.

Courtesy of Atlas Gallery