| Dates: | 1897, 27 January - 1965, 12 August | | Born: | US, UT, Park City | | Active: | US | | Gender: | Male |
Pictoralist images.Preparing biographies
Biography provided by Focal Press
Mortensen, born in Utah, lived in Southern California and became the outspoken leader of the pictorialist movement in the United States during the 1930s. His photography consisted of Hollywood film stills, portraits of noted actors/actresses, and his personal art, and aggressively manipulated images of mythological, historical, and literary characters. He carried on an intense debate in camera periodicals (1930s) with Ansel Adams over contentious principles of Pictorialism vs. "straight" photography (the latter personified by Group f/64). As an unjust consequence for his stubborn defense of more romantic theories for photography, Mortensen was essentially ostracized from most authoritative canons of photographic history — especially those authored by Adams’ good friends, Beaumont and Nancy Newhall. Renewed interest and respect for Mortensen, his work and writings, has been courageously led by the critic A. D. Coleman (see his essay and others in William Mortensen: A Revival, 1998). Mortensen perfected his metal-chrome process (bromoil derived) and pattern screen methods for modifying photographic prints, as well as publishing many books on abrasive-tone monoprints and technical hints on lighting, models, costumes, and darkroom modifications. His portrait subjects include Fay Wray, Jeanne Crain Lon Chaney, Clara Bow, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, and George Dunham (his collaborator and favorite model). In 1932 he founded the William Mortensen School of Photography, Laguna Beach, California, and one of his students was Rock Hudson. Many contemporary critics and scholars point out the example of Mortensen’s portrait style as a validated antecedent when considering the acclaimed praise and popularity of the manipulated images of Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura.
(Author: Ken White - Rochester Institute of Technology)
Michael Peres (Editor-in-Chief), 2007, Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 4th edition, (Focal Press) [ISBN-10: 0240807405, ISBN-13: 978-0240807409]
(Used with permission)
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Mortensen, W., 1936, Monsters and Madonnas, (San Francisco: Camera Craft Publishing) [Reprinted 1973.] [Δ]
Mortensen, W., 1937, The Command to Look: A Formula for Picture Success, (San Francisco: Camera Craft Publishing) [Δ]
Mortensen, W., 1937, The Model: A Book on the Problems of Posing, (San Francisco: Camera Craft Publishing) [Δ]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com | | Portraits
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Family history
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