09/01/2024
AVAILABLE.
William Mortensen (1897 - 1965)
The Heretic (also titled A Spider Torture) 1932
Original Hand SIGNED Vintage Photograph
Paper size 8 x 10 inches
image size 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 image
mint condition
Illustrated in
William Mortensen American Grotesque 2014
William Mortensen “Monsters and Madonnas 1935
William Mortensen wrote:
“TORTURE and pain are frequent themes of grotesque art.. Indeed, it is only in the medium of the grotesque that these powerful primitive motives are admissible; for the realistic representation of torture or pain is intolerable pictorially. ..
Her body was carefully examined for unusual marks. If any was found, it constituted presumptive evidence of converse with the Devil. "On the meaner Proselytes, the Devil fixes in some secret Part of their Bodies a Mark, as his Seal to know his own by." (Forbes, 1730.) The Devil's Mark is described as being like a flea bite, or sometimes as a "blew Spot" like the impression of "a Hare's foot, or the Foot of a Rat or Spider." Sometimes the searchers found supernumerary breasts or "witch paps." These were even more serious evidence. If no marks were found, she was left thus stripped in a cell with a peephole, through which secret watchers took note of her every action and word. Sometimes under these conditions, she would reveal "Stigma" which the searchers had missed; sometimes she would betray herself by incautious conversation with the Devil or her familiars.
If the inquisitors still failed to find the evidence they sought or to exact a confession, she was subjected to the additional persuasion of the torture. After being given certain preliminary tortures, she was strung up and given a final opportunity to confess and recant. This is the moment represented in The Heretic. As in the case of the Preparation for the Sabbot, a fairly elaborate setting was used. And, in a similar manner, the setting was assembled (except for the painted background) from everyday materials. A piece of the porch railing was taken up and stood on end and the victim was lashed to it.. The mysterious piece of apparatus is merely a dictionary stand. The torture chamber of the Inquisition was thus assembled with little difficulty—save for the later inquisition put on by the land lord on the subject of the porch railing. The nails that pe*****te her ankles were accomplished by small touches of Alvord's Opaque on the negative. Thus the high-lights were supplied. The shadows and heads of the nails were added by Abrasion-Tone. By the latter process, also, the ropes were made (by altered modeling) to embed themselves more deeply in the flesh. “
The Command To Look 1937
William Mortensen wrote
“The Heretic
The Impact here is based on DOMINANT MASS, which is made additionally powerful by the strong con-trast between body and background. The theme, owing to its relationship to the dark machinations of witchcraft, may be classed as WON-DER, which is here considerably tinged with S*X interest. The darkness of the surrounding areas insistently returns the movement of the eye to the central figure. The hindrances to this movement are sharp and definite, the smooth contours of the limbs being repeatedly hacked across by the intersecting lines of the bonds. There is a strong TACTILE QUALITY in the way that the bonds bite into the flesh. Note that the points where the tactile suggestion is most painful—i.e., the nails through the ankles—are prevented from becoming too dominant and literally revolting by being placed in deep shadow. “
