[ Photographs ] Mortensen, William Portfolio containing 25 original photographs, comprising 13 seductive studies of female figures, many bare breasted, as well as a host of his wacky portraits. Bromoil prints, each approximately 7.25 x 5.25 inches,,

[ Photographs ] Mortensen, William Portfolio containing 25 original photographs, comprising 13 seductive studies of female figures, many bare breasted, as well as a host of his wacky portraits. Bromoil prints, each approximately 7.25 x 5.25 inches,, tipped to the original 12 x 8.75inch mount, with Mortensen's caption, in pencil, and chop on mount recto. Small folio, cloth-backed marbleized boards with a printed label that reads "Pictorial Photography William Mortensen." Circa 1933 E20000-30000 "Obsession" * "Circe" * "Victoria-Rebecca" * "Caprice Vennois" * "Sojein" "Betty" * "Chatte" * "Nude Study" * "Siren of the South Seas" * "Myrdith" "Preparation for Sabbat" * "Youth" * "Flemish Maid" * "Romany Maid" * "The Kiss" * "Nicolo Paganini Genoa, 1827" * 'Johan the Mad" * "Cesare Borgia" * "Human Relations, 1932" "A Tantric Sorcerer" "The Maid of Tunis, 1932" * "An Oarsman" * "Patricia "An Indian Lyric" "Mutual Admiration. " William Mortensen 1897-1965 studied painting at the Art Students League, with George Bellows, in New York City. Later, after moving to Los Angeles, he learned the rudiments of photography with the "King of Bromoil, "Arthur Kales. A master ofphoto technique, he became the most popular American photographer of the 1930s and even worked for the "King of Kings," Cecil B. DeMille - his principal creative inspiration. his books, including the well-known Monsters 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 and was issued in the portfolio contained herein: single prints were available for