vortograph

vortograph

      the first completely abstract kind of photograph, it is composed of kaleidoscopic repetitions of forms achieved by photographing objects through a triangular arrangement of three mirrors. Alvin Langdon Coburn (Coburn, Alvin Langdon), a member of the Photo-Secession group and a pioneer in nonobjective photography, invented vortography in 1917 and remained the principal advocate and practitioner of the technique. Coburn's experiments with the technique lasted only a short while.

      The name is a reference to the Vorticist group of British writers and painters. The fractured planes and complex space characteristic of vortography reflect the Vorticists' as well as Coburn's own interest in Cubism.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • vortograph — …   Useful english dictionary

  • photography, history of — Introduction       method of recording the image of an object through the action of light, or related radiation, on a light sensitive material. The word, derived from the Greek photos (“light”) and graphein (“to draw”), was first used in the… …   Universalium

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