Background
William Mortensen was born on January 27, 1897, in Park City, Utah, United States.
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- Photos
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Actress Margaret Livingston
1927
William Mortensen
Edit ProfileEducation
William studied drawing and painting at the Art Students League in New York City, New York, United States.
Career
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.
Achievements
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Publications Books: The Mortensen Collec- tion of the Photographic Society of America, pamphlet, Myrdith Mortensen, June 1970; Flash in Modern Photography, 1941; Outdoor Portraiture, 1940; Mortensen on the Negative, 1940; Print Finishing, 1938; The Model, 1937; The Command to Look, 1937; Monsters and Madonnas, 1936; Pictorial Lighting, 1935; Projection Control, 1934. Anthology: "Control in Photography ," The Complete Photographer, Willard D. Morgan, ed., vol 3, 1942-43. Periodicals (by the artist): "The Hermits of Baltimore," Camera, Feb 1953; "Talking About Photography with Mortensen," American Photography, Aug 1950; "Portraiture: Surface and Substance," Camera Craft, Aug 1940; "How to Make Abrasion-Tone Prints," Popular Photography, Aug 1938; "Color in Photography," part I, May 1938, part II, June 1938, part III, July 1938, "The Bromoil Transfer Factors in Inking," June 1936, "Venus and Vulcan," part I, Mar 1934, part II, Apr 1934, part III, May 1934, part IV, June 1934, Camera Craft. Periodicals (about the artist): "Pictorialism—Bodine and Mortensen: Two Extremes of this Approach," Ed Scully, Modern Photography, Jan 1971; "The Metalchrome Story," Grey L. Silva, Photographic Society of America Journal, Mar 1970.
Works
Personality
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."
Connections
William was married to Myrdith Monaghan.
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Born
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Died
August 12, 1965 (aged 68) -
Nationality
United States
Career
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1918 - 1919
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1920
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1925
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1926
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1930