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Melissa Faithful for Art-Sheep

William Mortensen was a photographer and artist, well known for his sexual, often barbaric images. Influenced by the burgeoning genre of horror film growing inside big Hollywood studios in the 1920s and ’30s, he created pictures that were more nightmare than reality.

Mortensen was the exact opposite of a conservative, purist creator. Having been given the nickname “Antichrist,” Mortensen was a pictorialist, meaning he made photographs rather than captured them. His malformed, miserable characters exist into oblivion, exploring aspects of human and non-human life.

His experience as a Hollywood artist working in everything from set decoration to costumery influenced his grotesque aesthetic. Mixing glamour with horror, Mortensen manipulated his images with printmaking techniques and rather primitive collage-like practices, making his work look more painted than photographed. Embracing the occult , Mortensen features horrific subjects and themes like monsters, bewitched humans, death and perverse sexuality.

 slide_374356_4366180_free 03William-Mortensen--L-Amour_900 05William-Mortensen--Preparation-for-the-Sabbath 11William-Mortensen--Pit-and-the-Pendulum 12William-Mortensen--The-Vampire 13William-Mortensen--The-Priestess 14William-Mortensen--Death-of-Hypatia 16William-Mortensen--Circe 17William-Mortensen--The-Warlock 18William-Mortensen--The-Possessed 21William-Mortensen--Nude-with-Peacock slide_374356_4366146_free slide_374356_4366150_free slide_374356_4366154_free slide_374356_4366156_free slide_374356_4366162_free slide_374356_4366164_free slide_374356_4366166_free slide_374356_4366168_free slide_374356_4366170_free slide_374356_4366172_free slide_374356_4366174_free slide_374356_4366176_free

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