The Octopus

Alvin Langdon Coburn · 1909

This is The Octopus — a photograph by the American artist Alvin Langdon Coburn, nineteen oh nine. A gelatin silver print — the standard black-and-white photograph of the twentieth century, paper coated in gelatin holding light-sensitive silver, developed by hand in a tray. Somewhere in there: the map, and the concentric circles.

Medium Gelatin silver print · Dimensions 22 1/8 × 16 3/4" (56.2 × 42.6 cm) · Credit Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther

Hanging beside it in Gallery 504: Bourges, In Redland Woods: Surrey

More by Alvin Langdon Coburn here: Vortograph, Waterloo Bridge, London, The Tower Bridge, London