William Mortensen miscellaneous acquisitions collection

Collection consists of materials collected from separate sources at different times. The collection is divided into eight series: Research on Mortensen negatives; The Command to Look; Publications by Mortensen; Publications about Mortensen; Auction records for Mortensen photographs and books; Larry Lytle research materials; R. H. Cochrane, Jr. materials; Richard Bennett+ notebook.

Subgroup One, Research on Mortensen Negatives, contains correspondence and research materials collected by CCP archivist Amy Rule. Includes an inventory of the 55 gelatin silver nitrate film negatives at the International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House. These negatives evidently were acquired from the Louis Walton Sipley American Museum of Photography.

Subgroup Two, The Command to Look, consists of two editions of Mortensen’s book, one a damaged copy of the 1937 edition: San Francisco: Camera Craft, third printing November 1943; the second is a photocopy of a republished edition: Los Angeles: Jacques de Langre, 1967.

Subgroup Three, Publications by Mortensen, consists of The Female Figure by William Mortensen (Newport Beach, CA: Jay Curtis Publications, 1954) [photocopy]; How to Pose the Model by Mortensen and George Dunham (3rd edition) [copy of dust jacket]; The Texture Screen by William Mortensen (Newport Beach, CA: Jay Curtis Publications, 1954) [photocopy]. Miscellaneous articles including photocopies of articles in the Los Angeles Times Home Magazine (May – July 1941); “The Hermits of Baltimore,” Camera magazine 78:2 (February 1953), 24-31, 88.

Subgroup Four, Publications About Mortensen, contains photocopies of photographs in International Photographer (December 1940-December 1943); Miscellaneous articles about Mortensen; Miscellaneous articles on related subjects; Publications by Deborah Irmas; Dissertation on Mortensen: The Manner of Mortensen: Aesthetic Communication and the Construction of Metaphysical Realities by Edward Montgomery Clift. University of Pennsylvania, 1992. (129 pp.)

Subgroup Five, Auction Records for Mortensen Photographs and Books, contains photocopies of records in auction catalogs, 1989.

Subgroup Six, Research Materials Collected by Larry Lytle, Mortensen Biographer, 1990s, contains copies of public records related to Mortensen’s life such as the record of his birth in 1897, Los Angeles County census records, passport application, World War I draft registration card, Orange County voters registration file, Salt Lake City directory pages, and other official public records; Bibliography complied by Lytle in 1997; Lytle photographs of Mortensen addresses in Laguna Beach; Mortensen School brochures (copies); Lytle comments on the contents of the Gray Silva Collection at CCP; Chronology of Mortensen’s addresses, 1932-1966; Transcription of telephone interview between Lytle and Robert Balcomb, 1998; 16th Annual Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters, Laguna Beach (copy; Cecil B. DeMille’s Production The King of Kings by Jeanie Macpherson, [undated] (copy; The Mode in Costume by R. Turner Wilcox, 1948; with inscription, “4-15-50 Bill Mortensen with sincere regards – Kelly L. Taulbee” [pages possibly marked by Mortensen; Four copy negatives of Mortensen images, [undated]; Photocopies of magazine articles, 1940s-1950s; photocopies of Mortensen photographs; Hood Medal, 1949 (copy).

Miscellaneous research notes from Larry Lytle.

Biographical materials related to Mortensen and Dunham, including photographs of grave stones, marriage certificate of Myrdith and William Mortensen, death certificates of Myrdith and Dunham, notes and copies of pages from city directories.

Art sources for Mortensen subjects. Copies of illustrations in books and magazines showing possible sources for Mortensen’s subjects and compositions.

“The Command to Look: The Story of William Mortensen, Parts 1, 2, 3,” by Larry Lytle. Printouts from the online journal The Scream (8 May 2002), extensively illustrated with scans of Mortensen’s photographs.

“The Illustrative Photographs of William Mortensen Used in Camera Craft Publications,” by Larry Lytle, 1997.

George Dunham: Miscellaneous copies of official records, notes, and emails related to the education of Dunham including proof that he attended Harvard University, 1921-22.

Dunham: Documents from Dunham’s career at Pomona College including his writings in student publications, 1917-1921.

Dunham: Copies of newspaper clippings, emails and other documentation of Dunham’s life in Laguna Beach, 1927-65.

Laguna Beach research materials, research materials related to Mortensen’s career in Laguna Beach. Copies of original materials in the Laguna Beach Historical Society. Supplied with the assistance of LBHS staff member Jane Janz. Also includes copies of articles by Mortensen, George Dunham, Paul Outerbridge, and others writing in the South Coast News and other publications about Mortensen’s studio and the Mortensen School of Photography in Laguna Beach, the Laguna artists’ scene, the Festival of the Arts and Pageant of the Masters, the Festival Photographic Contest, and publication of Mortensen’s photographs and books. Of special note are clippings related to the 1956 claim by the U.S. Postal Service authorities that Mortensen’s book The Female Figure was obscene.

Miscellaneous Larry Lytle research materials, including copies of The Camera magazine (1944-1946), newspaper article about Lytle lecture in Laguna Beach (2006), and various research notes.

Miscellaneous materials documenting the photographic career of Larry Lytle. These include they annual calendars (Destination 2008, Sandwich Exotica 2006, Fun & Games 2005, Tintypes 2004, Inventions of the Twentieth Century 2000, Magic & Illusion 1999, and The Best Parts 1998.

Subgroup Seven, R. H. Cochrane, Jr. Materials, contains negatives by Robert H. Cochrane, Jr., a Mortensen Metal Chrome Student, 1939.

Subgroup Eight, Richard Bennett Notebook, undated, contains a note book created by Richard Bennett, student of William Mortensen, undated (ca. 147 pages); includes extensive notes on Mortensen’s photographic techniques and materials involved in the pigment, bromoil, and texturescreen processes. The notebook was deaccessioned from the Salt Lake City Art Center Library, 2005 and donated to the Center.

Subgroup Nine, Photographs by William Mortensen, features an undated photograph of a man in monk robes, signed “Wescosco Studio William Mortensen”; inscription: “to my friend Mr. Dellarowe from Eugene H. Tracy.”