Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

0

  • Work on this object ended.

1916

  • Work on this object began.

2021

2025

  • You found it!

Photograph, Edith and Alvin Langdon Coburn, Grace and E. McKnight Kauffer

This is a Photograph. It was photographed by Alvin Langdon Coburn and subject: E. McKnight Kauffer and Alvin Langdon Coburn.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Simon Rendall as part of Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

It is dated 1916. Its medium is gelatin silver print. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.

In the summer of 1916, the Kauffers rented a cottage in the same village as their friends the Coburns. Alvin Langdon Coburn was a celebrated portrait photographer, but he and Kauffer spent the season experimenting with abstraction. Coburn created a series of “vortographs,” including the one shown below. These abstract works sparked a great deal of controversy among Coburn’s fellow photographers.

It is credited Simon Rendall.

Its dimensions are

H x W (approx.): 12.7 × 17.8 cm (5 × 7 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805116/ |title=Photograph, Edith and Alvin Langdon Coburn, Grace and E. McKnight Kauffer |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=30 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>