Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) began generating his vortographs the same year they were first displayed in his one-man show at the Camera Club in London, in 1917. Ezra Pound contributed to the catalogue of the show, claiming, ‘The Vortoscope […] freed photography from the material limitations of depicting recognizable natural objects.’ He continues with saying that the, ‘Vortoscope is useless to a man with no eye for form or pattern.’ The composition of abstract silhouetted elements in his vortographs consists of pure white and dark shapes and were likened to the composition of music. The implication is that both rhythm and structure are an elemental part of the arrangement. Both of these components are achieved through the echo of light and dark that repeats as a measured beat within the photograph. The reduction to silhouetted shape through the fragmented reflection is a mechanisation of the supposed realistic representation in photography. Here the silhouetted forms of jagged geometrical white, black and mid-tone shapes symbolise the move away from the ‘naturalness’ of photography. The most literal of these, Vortograph of Ezra Pound (bottom image), shows a beautifully balanced composition with a central mirror-image silhouette of Pound framed, as if to imply respect by means of the pensive side profile, which is both solid and quiet in its simplification to the very essence of its form. In this vortograph, as if just for a moment, Coburn felt the need to move away from absolute abstraction to demonstrate his esteem for Pound.
No comments:
Post a Comment