one-man shows at their gallery 291, also known
as the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession.
Coburn boasted in his autobiography that at
the age of 21, he had been elected to ‘‘two of the
most advanced and artistically conscious groups
of internationally-known photographers’’: the
Photo-Secession and the Linked Ring Brother-
hood of England.
Perhaps at Ka ̈sebier’s suggestion, Coburn
attended Arthur Wesley Dow’s summer school at
Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1902 and 1903. Dow,
one of the best art teachers in America at the
time, had published the great manualComposition
in 1899, which would run into 20 editions over 40
years. Dow emphasized the Japanese concept of
notan—a delicate balance of light and dark tones.
Especially fascinated by wood-block printing, Dow
had been assistant curator to Ernest Fenollosa in
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’s Department of
Chinese and Japanese Art. Dow was extremely
accepting of photography in his curriculum. Often
compared to the painter James McNeill Whistler,
Coburn incorporated these oriental tenets into his
strikingly balanced arrangements.
In 1904, Coburn persuaded the editor of New
York’sMetropolitan Magazineto commission him
to photograph prominent British writers and artists.
His first target was George Bernard Shaw, a success-
ful playwright and dabbler in photography. The two
became fast friends, and Shaw posed for over 50
sittings, declaring Coburn ‘‘one of the most accom-
plished and sensitive artists now living.’’ Among his
other sitters were the poets and authors Edward
Carpenter, George Meredith, and G. K. Chesterton.
Coburn later broadened his scope to include other
intellectuals from other countries, eventually col-
lecting the visages into a book, Men of Mark
(1913). This was followed byMore Men of Mark
(1922) and his never-finishedMusicians of Mark.
The Arts and Crafts’ ideals of craftsmanship and
the blending of all arts played large roles in
Coburn’s work. In 1904, he went to study with
Frank Brangwyn, an English painter and print-
maker who had trained with William Morris.
Coburn later became a specialist in photogra-
vure—a type of photomechanical reproduction
that complimented Pictorial photography’s soft
tone—and he hand-pulled most of his own images.
Coburn’s numerous publication credits included
his own books,London(1909),New York(1910),
andMoor Park(1913), as well as illustrations for
some of the leading writers of the day: Maurice
Maeterlinck’sThe Intelligence of Flowers(1907),
Henry James’s The Novels and Tales of Henry
James(1907–09; 24 volumes), and H.G. Wells’s
The Door in the Wall and Other Stories(1911).
Coburn always enjoyed experimenting in photo-
graphy, whether it was mixing gum printing with
platinum papers, using a specially designed soft-
focus lens, or learning the first color photography
process, autochrome, from Steichen in 1907. He
also photographed from bold angles, such as in a
view from the Metropolitan Tower ‘‘The Octo-
pus’’ (1912), making the ordinary seem foreign in
its convergence of lines and shapes. In 1916,
Coburn was introduced to writer Ezra Pound
and artist Wyndham Lewis, two important figures
in England’s Vorticist movement. Using three
mirrors bound together, Coburn photographed
Pound and bits of wood and crystal to produce
enigmatic images that mimicked mineral forma-
tions or cubist renditions of light. Coburn produced
his Vortographs in January 1917 and exhibited
them in February, ending his stint into purely
non-objective photography.
Coburn retired to North Wales with his wife for
a life of freemasonry, mysticism, Eastern thought,
goat raising, pianola playing, and painting. Coburn’s
interest in spiritual concerns can be seen as an out-
growth of his Symbolist leanings. Indeed, as he later
explained, ‘‘The greatest artists have always had a
spiritual background.’’ In 1932, Coburn became a
naturalized British citizen, making official what had
been his residence for over 20 years. In 1966, he
worked with photography collectors Helmut and
Alison Gernsheim to complete an autobiography,
thus bookmaking became his career. Before his
photographic calling ended, Coburn was acquainted
with, and influenced by, a veritable ‘‘who’s who’’ of
international arts and literary circles.
LeslieK. BrownSeealso:Evans, Frederick H.; History of Photo-
graphy: Twentieth-Century Pioneers; Ka ̈sebier, Ger-
trude; Linked Ring; Non-Silver Processes; Photo-
Secession; Photo-Secessionists; Pictorialism; Por-
traiture; Steichen, Edward; Stieglitz, AlfredBiography
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, 11 June 1882. Attended
Arthur Wesley Dow’s Summer School of Art, Ipswich,
Massachusetts, 1902 and 1903; studied with Frank
Brangwyn at his London art school, 1904; studied
photogravure at London County Council School of
Photo-Engraving, 1906. Opened studio in New York,
1903–06; worked in Gertrude Ka ̈sebier’s portrait studio,
1903–04. Invited to join the Photo-Secession, New
York, 1902; elected to Linked Ring Brotherhood, Eng-COBURN, ALVIN LANGDON