"An eye for the truly strange" in the LA Times covers new books about and a new appreciation for William Mortensen along with some of his excellent images.
While Mortensen lost his interpretive photography battle during his lifetime to Ansel Adams and the rest of the F64 crowd, he may have won it for posterity as explained in a new book "American Grotesque - The Life and Art of William Mortensen" edited by Larry Lytle and Michael Monyihan. "The Command to Look" by Mortensen is also enjoying a new reprint - you can find them and even vintage Mortensen books at Amazon.
Interesting tidbits include the claims that Cecil B. DeMille employed Mortensen as the first still photographer on a Hollywood movie set and that Mortensen was the first photog to become a "name brand" during the 1930's. I guess the editors never heard of Louis Daguerre or Mathew Brady, among others. Many of Mortensen's works were more than bizarre and today are now (for better or worse) being newly appreciated. Ironically Mortensen's archive is housed at the Center for Creative Photography, whose founders included Ansel Adams.
Photography like art and fashion goes through waves of acceptance, inevitably bringing back the old as the new. I rue the day when a photography historian far in the future rediscovers the wonderful lost smart phone art of instagram and selfies. Nonetheless, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my newly ordered "American Grotesque."
Stephen
While Mortensen lost his interpretive photography battle during his lifetime to Ansel Adams and the rest of the F64 crowd, he may have won it for posterity as explained in a new book "American Grotesque - The Life and Art of William Mortensen" edited by Larry Lytle and Michael Monyihan. "The Command to Look" by Mortensen is also enjoying a new reprint - you can find them and even vintage Mortensen books at Amazon.
Interesting tidbits include the claims that Cecil B. DeMille employed Mortensen as the first still photographer on a Hollywood movie set and that Mortensen was the first photog to become a "name brand" during the 1930's. I guess the editors never heard of Louis Daguerre or Mathew Brady, among others. Many of Mortensen's works were more than bizarre and today are now (for better or worse) being newly appreciated. Ironically Mortensen's archive is housed at the Center for Creative Photography, whose founders included Ansel Adams.
Photography like art and fashion goes through waves of acceptance, inevitably bringing back the old as the new. I rue the day when a photography historian far in the future rediscovers the wonderful lost smart phone art of instagram and selfies. Nonetheless, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my newly ordered "American Grotesque."
Stephen
