Saint Paul's, from Ludgate Circus
Alvin Langdon Coburn British, born United States
Not on view
Around the turn of the century, a new generation of photographers banded together in clubs and societies in a determined effort to raise the status of their medium to an art form. The style that emerged, Pictorialism, was characterized by soft focus and painterly effects.
Coburn, one of the outstanding talents of this period, often used the imposing dome of Saint Paul's Cathedral as his subject. In this print the church designed by Sir Christopher Wren is beautifully rendered by the photogravure process with its slightly gritty texture, which was ideal for recording the sooty tonalities and puffs of smoke along the bustling approach to the cathedral from Ludgate Circus.
