"Human Relations, 1932" "Sleeping Girl" "Obsession" "Circe" "Victoria-Rebecca" "Caprice Vennois" "Sojein" "La Chatte" "Nude Study" "Preparation for Sabbat" "Youth" "Flemish Maid" "Romany Maid" "Nicolo Paganini Genoa, 1827" "Johan the Mad" "Cesare Borgia" "Patricia" "Mutual Admiration" "Stamboul" "Study of Young Girl" "Woman of Languidere" "A Pagan Priestess" "L'Amour" "A Tibetan Priest" Untitled (woman with arm crossed seductively).
William Mortensen (1897-1965), the best known American photographer of the 1930s, studied painting at the Art Students League with George Bellows. Later, after moving to Los Angeles, he learned the rudiments of photography with the "King of Bromoil," Arthur Kales. A master of photo technique, he became the most popular American photographer of the 1930s and even worked for the "King of Kings," Cecil B. DeMille, who became his principal creative inspiration. His books, including the well-knownmonsters and madonnas, were enormously successful, and his prints were featured regularly in exhibitions devoted to California Pictorialism. By the 1940s, however, Mortensen apparently fell out of favor and was subsequently omitted from virtually all the standard photographic histories.
During his halycon days Mortensen advertised two different portfolios in the magazine "Camera Craft." Each set of 20 prints cost $10.00; single prints were available for $3.00.