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Ralph Hosenpud collection

 Collection
Identifier: AG 227

Scope and Contents

Series one, correspondence and personal papers, contains correspondence, notes with Larry Lytle, J. Stephen Gillette, and Owen Phairis between 1986 and 2006, publications, documents related to Hosenpud’s career, student notes on Mortensen’s pigment process, and other materials.

Series two, photographic materials, includes prints by William Mortensen and photographs by Ralph Hosenpud.

Series three, research and reference files, includes instructions on photographic processes including the use of texture screens, advertisements and pages from Mortensen’s book Monsters and Madonnas, and other materials.

Series four, texture screens, contains texture screens from Mortensen and others, and a print by Mortensen.

Series five, books and audiovisual materials, includes books by and about Mortensen, as well as books about other photographers and photographic processes. Also included is a VHS tape detailing the life of William Mortensen.

Series six, artifacts and memorabilia, contains rubber stamps, original box of Valet [razor] Blades, jar of gold chloride, and a brush used by Mortensen in the bromoil process.

Dates

  • 1917-2006

Creator

Language of Materials

Material in English

Conditions Governing Access

To access materials from this collection, please contact CCP-RefDesk@email.arizona.edu

Conditions Governing Use

Copyrights to the Hosenpud writings and photographs reside with the executor of his estate, Johannes Barandun. Contact the archivist for further details.

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission from the copyright owner (which could be the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates or literary executors) prior to any copyright-protected uses of the collection.

The user agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents, the University of Arizona, Center of Creative Photography, including its officers, employees, and agents, from and against all claims made relating to copyright or other intellectual property infringement

Biographical Note

Ralph Hosenpud (1930-2008) was a photographer and journalist, skilled in film and video in addition to still photography. He trained with William H. Mortensen and was one of the last surviving masters of the Metalchrome photographic technique. Ralph grew up in San Diego, but moved to Europe in his early twenties, working as a journalist and photographer for Stern magazine and as a television cameraman for Austrian National Television (ORF). Returning to San Diego, Ralph also returned to school, attending the Regional Occupational Program at San Diego High School where he obtained a certificate in film and television production. After training with Mortensen, Hosenpud opened his own photographic studio in San Diego where he continued making both commercial and creative photographs using various processes learned from Mortensen including gum prints, pigment prints, and gelatin silver prints using the texture screen and Metalchrome processes. He produced several well-received programs of classical music and eventually took a position at the San Diego Museum of Art, where he served as a media specialist and film projectionist until his eventual retirement, at the age of 71, in 2001.

Extent

3 Linear Feet

Metadata Rights Declarations

  • License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Abstract

Papers, books, photographic materials, audiovisual materials, artifacts, and memorabilia (1917- 2006) of Ralph Doyle Hosenpud, photographer and former student in the famous Laguna Beach photography school of William Mortensen. Of special note in this collection are selected original negatives and prints by William Mortensen.

Arrangement

The Collection is arranged into the following series:

  1. Series 1: Correspondence and personal papers, n.d., 1934-2006, 1 box
  2. Series 2: Photographic materials, n.d., 1930s-1990, 1 box
  3. Series 3: Research and reference files, n.d., 1967-1989, 1 box
  4. Series 4: Texture screens, n.d., 2000, 1 box
  5. Series 5: Books and audiovisual materials, 1917-2009, 1 box
  6. Series 6: Artifacts and memorabilia, n.d., 1938, 1 box

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a gift of the Hosenpud Estate in 2009.

Related Materials

The Center has several archival collections containing materials documenting the life and career of William Mortensen. Researchers are invited to consult the:

  1. William Mortensen archive (AG147)
  2. William Mortensen & George Dunham collection (AG43)
  3. William Mortensen miscellaneous acquisitions collection (AG191)

In addition, CCP has collections acquired from a number of Mortensen’s students:

  1. Robert Balcomb (AG180)
  2. Anson Beman (AG185)
  3. Richard Bennet (AG191)
  4. R. H. Cochran, Jr. (AG191)
  5. Ralph D. Hosenpud (AG227)
  6. Ben Maxey (AG112)
  7. Grey Silva (AG134)

CCP also has collections related to other photographers from the Pictorialist tradition:

  1. Paul L. Anderson (AG40)
  2. A. Aubrey Bodine (AG139)
  3. Adolf Fassbender (AG168)

Several boxes of fine prints have been relocated to the CCP Fine Prints collection.

General

  1. Hosenpud, Ralph Doyle
  2. Mortensen, William
  3. Pictorialist

Processing Information

An initial organization of the collection was established by A. Rule in May 2009. With assistance from James Uhrig, this preliminary finding aid was compiled in August 2009. Finding aid was updated by Alexis Peregoy and Tai Huesgen in 2019.

Title
Ralph Hosenpud collection 1917-2006
Author
Finding aid created by CCP Archives Staff
Date
© 2021
Description rules
Finding Aid Based On Dacs (Describing Archives: A Content Standard)
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid encoded in English

Repository Details

Part of the Center for Creative Photography Archives Repository

Contact:
1030 N. Olive RD
Tucson Arizona 85721 United States