Flight of Fancy... Off for the Sabbat (1927)
by William Mortensen (American, 1897–1965)
A figure launches into the night sky on a broomstick — but this is not an illustration. It is a photograph, made in 1927, using composite darkroom techniques that Mortensen developed himself. The result sits in an uncanny space between document and dream: too detailed to be a painting, too impossible to be a photograph.
From the late 1920s through the 1950s, William Mortensen was one of the most famous photographers in America. His subject matter — the savage, the grotesque, the occult, the theatrical — made him a permanent enemy of the puritanical new guard in photography led by Ansel Adams, who reportedly called him "The Antichrist" and worked actively to erase him from photographic history. It largely worked: Mortensen spent decades out of print and out of the canon.
He is back. This image is proof of why he deserved to be.
Rectangle Canvas Wrap
Gallery-quality canvas with fade-resistant inks and a 1.25" deep pine frame sourced from renewable forests. Arrives wrapped and ready to hang.
- Materials: cotton and polyester composite canvas, pine wood frame
- Inner frame: radiata pine from renewable forests
- Leveling bumpers included for wall protection
- Ready to hang — mounting hardware pre-attached
Care: Dust gently with a clean, damp cloth as needed.