Men of Mark

While surfing the web today I came across a article from the website About in their photography section that I though many of you might enjoy. The article written by Peter Marshall called Men of Mark is found here

Men of Mark is a book of portraits of very prominent men of their day (1904-1913). The book was created by Alvin Langdon Coburn. The book features portraits of Mark Twain, Yeats, G.K. Chesterton and many more. Coburn captures the images of some of the most famous faces of British, American, and French modernism.

Coburn is not a popular photographer. I honestly had never heard of him before. He started taking pictures when he was a child in Boston and did his first exhibit by age 15. Coburn was associated with Alfred Stieglitz’s Photo-Secessionists and the British Linked Ring photographers. His work at that time was considered very experimental.

Coburn met with the Metropolitan Magazine to create the list of people to photograph then traveled to Europe and across the US to capture the likeness of these men. After the first book was published Coburn created a second book titled More Men of Mark. The last image in this book is a self portrait.

I find the images captivating. Coburn spent time with the subject to really show the real person. I learned that he would even study his subjects work by reading their books, music, lectures, and any thing he could get to understand the man.

A copy of the Men of Mark book created by Coburn can be found at the New York Public Library.