William Mortensen, herald of the American grotesque / Michael Moynihan -- The life of William Mortensen / Larry Lytle -- Venus and Vulcan: an essay on creative pictorialism : 1. Interpretations of reality ; 2. Sources and uses of material ; 3. Selection, and the function of control ; 4. Fallacies of "pure photography" ; 5. A manifesto and a prophecy / William Mortensen and George Dunham -- A glossary of Mortensen's methods / Larry Lytle -- A Mortensen gallery of grotesques : Propaganda ; The occult ; Character studies ; Nudes ; Beautiful women into crones -- Conspicuous by his absence: concerning the mysterious disappearance of William Mortensen / A.D. Coleman.