Alvin Langdon Coburn

platinum print, mounted, signed and dated '1914' in pencil on the mount, 1911 (Dreaming in Black and White, pl. 146; Steinorth, p. 84)

Purchased for the Museum's collection in 1970

This warm-toned photograph, on lovely, matte-surface paper, is in generally very good to excellent condition. Upon extremely close examination, deposits of expertly applied original retouching are barely visible. The print is on a cream-colored heavy paper mount. The edges of the mount are rippled, and the print is consequently lifting slightly from the mount. The mount is soiled and there are fingerprints from handling. The corners of the mount are creased. There are 6 yellowed adhesive remains on the reverse of the mount, as well as 3 rice-paper hinge remnants. The reverse of the mount is lightly soiled.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Alvin Langdon Coburn first visited the Grand Canyon with his mentor, the artist Arthur Wesley Dow, in 1903, where they painted and photographed the magnificent scenery together.  Coburn traveled to the American West again in 1911, first to Yosemite and then to the Canyon, arriving in September and camping for several weeks, making more pictures of the vast landscape, and staying long enough to watch the winter snows arrive.  It was on this second trip that the present photograph was taken.  In his autobiography, Coburn remarked, ‘No words can describe its grandeur.  The camera can give us hints, but only hints, and even with the reality before us it is hardly possible to believe one’s eyes’ (Coburn, p. 82).

Only two large-format prints of Coburn’s Grand Canyon views have appeared at auction, both in these rooms:  a gum-platinum print of Coburn’s Temple of Ohm, Grand Canyon, originally from the collection of Frederick Evans, in 1996 (Sale 6827, Lot 166), and a platinum vertical view of the Canyon, from The Museum of Modern Art  in 2001 (Sale 7632, Lot 121). 

At the time of this writing, platinum or multiple-process large-format prints of the present  image have been located in only two institutions: a second print owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, originally from the collection of Julien Levy; and one in the George Eastman House, Rochester, repository of the largest collection of Coburn’s photographs, negatives, books, and cameras.