Background
William Mortensen was born on January 27, 1897, in Park City, Utah, United States.
William Mortensen was born on January 27, 1897, in Park City, Utah, United States.
William studied drawing and painting at the Art Students League in New York City, New York, United States.
From 1918 to 1919 William served in the U.S. Army. In 1920 he taught at his alma mater, the East Side High School in Salt Lake City. He did photography for the Western Costume Company in Los Angeles, California, United States. In 1925 he opened a studio on Hollywood Boulevard, and worked as a still photographer for De Mille's The King of Kings, in 1926.
In 1930 William founded the Mortensen School of Photography in Laguna Beach, California, United States, which he operated for thirty years. In 1935 Mortensen began experimenting with the Metalchrome process which, along with pigment printing, he perfected. The former transformed black-and-white images into color. The latter, a nonsilver process, transformed the image into ink renderings. Also, he was the first to shoot movie stills with a small-format camera.
William was influenced by Cecil B. De Mille.
Quotes from others about the person
According to Deborah Irmas, curator, "Mortensen was a novelist photographer; all of his photographs were products of his imagination. Also, any alteration of that image through chemical, optical, or manufactured means was perfectly legitimate. The final criteria for judgement was on the total visual result, not the process."
William was married to Myrdith Monaghan.