Pictorialism

Presentation from the session.



Notes from the session.

Task Two 

The image depicts a young Alvin Langdon Coburn, shot by the American photographer Gertrude Kasebier (1852-1934) in 1902. She has chosen to photograph him leaning to the left of the frame, against a relatively simple background. The overall focus of the image is quite soft, creating a somewhat romantic aesthetic. Pictorialists favoured this photographic style as it removed any distracting details that could be associated with commercial photography. It also succeeded in creating painterly affect despite the use of a camera. Additionally the photograph has been sepia toned and appears to be printed on textured paper. According to a section from Photography: A Cultural History by Mary Warner Marien, this was “so that they resembled watercolours, evoking the earlier Victorian photographs of David Octavius Hill and Julia Margaret, which they admired and exhibited.” 

Gertrude Kasebier was one of the founding members of Photo Secession in 1902. Features of her work include a simple portrait style with backdrops, primarily printed in platinum or gum bichromate emulsions. She also frequently manipulated her images by retouching the negative or re-photographing an altered print.

Alvin Langdon Coburn was an American photographer (1882-1966) and elected member of Photo Secession. His work predominately consists of cityscapes and portraits of distinguished figures. His aim was to shed the romantic aesthetic associated with Pictorialism and bring photography in step with abstract sculpture and painting. An interest in flat perspective and geometrical patterns is apparent within his body of work. He later invented the Vortoscope and produced the first Vortographs.  

Portrait of Alvin Langdon Coburn by Gertrude Kasebier  (1902)