William Mortensen: Venus and Vulcan1

Photography, like any other art, is a form of communication. The artist is not blowing bubbles for his own gratification, but is speaking a language, is telling somebody something. Three corollaries are derived from this proposition.

a. As a language, art fails unless it is clear and unequivocal in saying what it means.

b. Ideas may be communicated, not things.

c. Art expresses itself, as all languages do, in terms of symbols.

1 William Mortensen, "Venus and Vulcan 5. A Manifesto and a Prophecy," Camera Craft 41, no. 6 (July 1934): 310-12

As quoted in A. D. Coleman, "Conspicuous by His Absence: Concerning the Mysterious Disappearance of William Mortensen," as published in A. D. Coleman Depth of Field: essays on photography, mass media, and lens culture, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1998

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