Collection History

This digital collection offers the portraits taken by American-born photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) primarily in England, where he moved in 1904, and published in handsome editions in England and the United States. The volumes, portraying contemporary key figures from before World War I into the postwar era, carry on a tradition (and the “Men of Mark” title) begun at least a generation earlier.

Background

Coburn had a special affinity for seeing his work in printed form, having absorbed the credo of Alfred Stieglitz that a fine photogravure was the best expression of some images. He produced other titles of New York and London scenes; illustrated literature; and most ambitiously, collaborated with Henry James for the frontispieces of the author’s definitive collected works.

Related Resources

Coburn, Alvin Langdon. Alvin Langdon Coburn, photographer: an autobiography; edited by Helmut and Alison Gernsheim (1978)