Artist
Alvin Langdon Coburn
Alvin Langdon Coburn is an artist. 11 works are cataloged here, principally at Victoria and Albert Museum.
Alvin Langdon Coburn kept a tiny camera in every coat pocket, snapping odd angles of London’s streets while pretending to window-shop. He tilted the camera toward the sky to make towers look like they were melting, and once turned the Thames into a smooth, sphinx-like ribbon. His trick was simple: shoot from high up or down low, then print it extra dark so the city feels like a dream you can’t quite place.
Try flipping through The British Lion (1909) on your phone, see how the blurred crowd turns into a single pulsing mass.
Works by Alvin Langdon Coburn
- London: A Sphinx
- A Sphinx, The Embankment, London
- Bust of Dionysus, Platon
- Trafalgar Square
The British Lion
'Jar', Raqqa, Syria, 11th-12th century, 'Head and Bust (fragment) of a man', Egypt, ca. 1980-1630 BCE, face later recarved, from the Charles Lang Freer Collection
'Stele with Buddhist triad', China, 581-618 or later, 'Bodhisattva', Japan, 'Bowl', (origins unknown), 'Figure of Avalokiteshvara', Japanese, after statue in Horyuji Temple, early 20th century, 'Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon)', Japan, late 8th century, from the Charles Lang Freer Collection
After Meryon - Le Stryge
'Figure of Anubis', Egypt, 664-525 BCE, 'Resting', ca 1870-1873 by James McNeil Whistler and 'Figurine of the Goddess Neith', 664-525 BCE or later, from the Charles Lang Freer Collection
On the Embankment
'Jar, Raqqa, Syria, 12th-13th century', 'Funderary Jar', China, 13th century', 'Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon)', Japan, late 12th century, 'Pear-shaped bottle', Korea, late 13th-early 14th century, 'Table with dragon decoration', China, probably 18th century, from the Charles Lang Freer Collection
Collections represented
