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George Bernard Shaw

1906 - 10

American, 1882-1966

When Coburn moved to England at the turn of the century, he determined to photograph the great writers and artists of the time. Here, the eminent Scottish playwright is presented as a smoldering matinee idol, a style of celebrity portraiture that Coburn pioneered in the first years of the twentieth century. In the preface for Coburn's first one-man show at the Royal Photographic Society in 1906, Shaw argued that photography could be more objective than painting: 'Mr. Coburn can handle you as Bellini handled everybody; as Hals handled everybody; as Gainsborough handled everybody; or as Holbein handled everybody, according to his vision of you. He is free of that clumsy tool-the human hand-which will always go its own single way and no other.

Photogravure

8 13/16 x 6 3/4 in. (22.4 x 17.2 cm)

Seattle Art Museum Purchase Fund

87.98

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Portrait Collaborations 19th-Century Works from the Permanent Collection", May 31, 2001 - January 1, 2002

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