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WILLIAM MORTENSEN

William Mortensen (January 27, 1897 – August 12, 1965) was a photographer who explored the themes of witchcraft and betwitchment within his images, depsite being more well known for his Hollywood portraits. However, well respected photographers such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston did not approve of these themes, to the extent that they called him the 'Antichrist'. They did their best to remove him from books, museums and galleries. An author at Faena aleph said "William Mortensen, above all, possessed an esoteric sensibility that produces chills in the observer, and that nobody has had since then."

His images are largely about darkness, black magic and occultism, but for the most part there's always the underlying magic in how it involves the viewer; compelling us to look. In his book The Command to Look, Mortensen discusses 'visual bewitching' that he experimented with in his images. The book is now cult object and influenced the 'bible' of the Church of Satan.

The images below were taken between 126 and 1927, however a lot of the images taken have been lost due to neglect and disapproval.

Recently, however, Mortensen's work has become more popular, likely because of historical interest and how times have changed with views on witchcraft. Two of his books have been republished and his work has been exhibited.


This image shows a nude woman in what looks like a very makeshift studio. She holds a doll above her, stretching out and revealing her body; she appears confident even when unprotected and bare. The doll is supposed to represent another person, giving the image a sense of not just one person in the image but two. It's clear to see she's performing an act of voodoo; piercing the doll with needles in order to injure and even kill another person.
It's thought that for voodoo to occur, the person inflicting the pain must have a part of the person they wish to harm; often strands of hair that is attached or wrapped around the doll. That person would then feel the pain inflicted upon the doll.
The way she smiles at the doll with her eyes wide feels very unnerving, and achieves that feeling of not being able to look away that Mortensen hoped for.


The lighting in this image is what makes it so powerful; the way it hides the figure dragging the woman on the floor, and how it falls on her body to show her curves and her body (what makes her human) makes for a very artistic and almost beautiful piece of work. 
The position the woman lays in doesn't seem to show her struggling or fighting back from being taken; she looks limp, perhaps even asleep. This could show her being taken by the devil in order to do his deeds, or perhaps the figure in the dark is the witch. Either way, the hidden figure has a very eerie vibe, and plays the part of the antagonist in this image.
To me, the figure seems to actually facing the woman on the floor rather than pulling her away behind them; an arm seems to rest on a hip and the other seems in a position of reaching out rather than behind, and the hood looks as if it's looking down at the woman. Despite this, the darkness in the image leads everybody's eye to interpret the figure in a different way, and i can also see the shape of them facing away from us.


This image, in my opinion, depicts a woman and her inner, darker self. I believe the image was taken using photo montage - combining more than one image together. This allows the image to show to of the same woman, while also causing a kind of ghostly effect. To me, the darker figure to the right is her dark soul protruding out of her, escaping almost; she appears to be in bliss and more free in terms of body language than the more solid, lighter looking woman who is tensed and appears uncomfortable judging by both her face and posture.
This shows the perspective of Mortensen on young woman and a dark beauty in women.



I would definitely like to try and incorporate these interesting styles within my own work, especially as women who were being prosecuted often confessed to acts of witchcraft, which are being shown in these images.



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