From: Steve Shapiro (sgshiya@redshift.com)
Date: 02/22/00-07:52:20 PM Z
A.D. Cloeman seems to be a champion of the Mortensen history, darkened by
the Baumount Newhall overshadow of historians.
After I had forwarded the thread on an 8mm of Mortensen information to him,
he requested me to add this to our alt-photo list, since he is not a
technician and not a subscriber it is interesting that we learn of this,
none the less.
Steve Shapiro
If any of the above doens not make sense, I shall takeflames, comments
orkudos as the case has been, and may well be, again. No sweat.
----- Original Message -----
From: coda <coda@con2.com>
To: Steve Shapiro <sgshiya@redshift.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 5:49 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: William Mortensen Mystery
> Dear Steve Shapiro:
> As I'm not on the alt processes list, perhaps you'll forward this on for
> me . . .
> Mortensen's Metalchrome Process was patented, as I recall; those who
> studied with him could become licensed to use it. His pigment-print
> process appears to have been a variant of the Fresson process, though
> establishing this will necessitate further research, a task I'll happily
> turn over to others. For starters, here's the relevant footnote, from my
> essay "Beyond Recall: In the William Mortensen Archive," which appeared
> in the book William Mortensen: A Revival (Tucson: Center for Creative
> Photography, 1998) that was recently the subject of some controversy in
> the journal Art On Paper:
>
> 13. Itıs long been assumed that George Dunham, the actor with whom
> Mortensen worked on many of his books, served him largely as a prod and
> consultant on matters of writing style. Yet an undated brochure for the
> Mortensen School of Photography, in its brief biographies of ³STAFF,²
> says of Dunham, ³He is an extensive writer on photographic subjects. It
> was through his research into the nearly obsolete Fresson procedure that
> Mr. Mortensen evolved his new colloidal method, the Mortensen Pigment
> Process.² [WM/GDC 43/3:22] In addition to amplifying Dunhamıs role in
> Mortensenıs work, this provides an intriguing link between Mortensen,
> those descendants of the inventor Theodore-Henri Fresson who have in
> recent years revived his proprietary process, and the contemporary
> photographers Bernard Faucon, Sheila Metzner and Ken Matsubara among
> them whoıve been invited have selected examples of their work printed
> via that still-secret process in the familyıs Paris atelier.
>
> Happy trails to Dennis Klinker, or anyone else who cares to follow this
> lead . . .
>
> Allan Coleman
>
>
> ***********************
> A. D. Coleman
> 465 Van Duzer Street
> Staten Island, NY 10304-2029 USA
> T (718) 447-3280 / F (718) 447-3091
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> http://www.nearbycafe.com/adc/adc.html
>
> "Colemanıs writing is smart, informed, and challenging. The Digital
> Evolution should be required reading for all educators, students and
> practitioners of photography."
> -- Kitty Hubbard, Afterimage
>
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