Alvin Langdon Coburn - The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation New York Tuesday, October 3, 2017 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    From the artist to his neighbor, 1960s
    Private Collection
    Christie's, South Kensington, 22 November 1996, lot 191

  • Catalogue Essay

    The painter and printmaker Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) exerted a transformative effect upon American art through his artwork and as a teacher in the early 20th century. Dow was an accomplished photographer and, unlike other painters of the day, saw the expressive possibilities of the medium. He met Alvin Langdon Coburn in 1903 at his Ipswich Summer School of Art where this portrait was made. Coburn became a pupil and traveled with Dow to the American West, initiating the important series of Western landscapes Coburn would execute several years later.

    Coburn was a master of photographic print processes and frequently combined them to produce complex multi-hued images. His use of pigment and platinum in the print offered here enhances this study of his friend and mentor, creating an evocative portrait that captures Dow’s intelligence and keen eye.

75

Portrait of Arthur Wesley Dow

1903
Gum bichromate over platinum print.
9 1/4 x 7 in. (23.5 x 17.8 cm)
Signed, titled, dated and inscribed in ink on the reverse of the secondary mount.

Estimate
$12,000 - 18,000 

Sold for $62,500

Contact Specialist
Rachel Peart
Specialist
+1 212 940 1246

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairman, Americas

General Enquiries:
+1 212 940 1245

The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation

New York 3 October 2017