Ralph Hattersley
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Ralph M. Hattersley, Jr. (1921-2000) was an American photographic educator, commentator, journalist and photographer.


Early life and education

Ralph M. Hattersley, Jr. (1921-2000) was born on March 31, 1921, in
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
where he grew up in Conrad. After graduating from high school, Hattersley spent a year studying art at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
, then left to attend
Montana State College Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...
in 1941. Two years later, Hattersley joined the U.S. Navy, attending its photography school in
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. He served on the Atlantic Fleet Camera Party, spending most of his time in
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...
. He was discharged from the Navy in 1946. Upon returning to the U.S., Hattersley enrolled in the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute's photography program.


Rochester Institute of Technology

Hattersley graduated in 1948 from Rochester Institute of Technology (as Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute was renamed in 1944) and began teaching in the Department of Photographic Technology. In 1949, he was offered a full-time faculty position there, which he accepted and taught alongside
Minor White Minor Martin White (July 9, 1908 – June 24, 1976) was an American photographer, theoretician, critic, and educator. White made photographs of landscapes, people, and abstract subject matter. They showed technical mastery and a strong sense o ...
, Charles Arnold,
Beaumont Newhall Beaumont Newhall (June 22, 1908 – February 26, 1993) was an American curator, art historian, writer, photographer, and the second director of the George Eastman Museum. His book, ''The History of Photography'', remains one of the most signif ...
and Robert Koch. Having both an art and photography background, Hattersley taught photo-illustration and art-based photography classes at the Institute for the next thirteen years.


Theorist and commentator

Hattersley wrote colourfully on his theories on the principles and procedures of photographic criticism in a lengthy article in ''
Aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...
'' magazine which it reprinted from ''Popular Photography'', and his criticism appeared in numbers of publications, including in the American Society of Magazine Photographers magazine ''Infinity'' for which he was the managing editor. Like his contemporary Minor White, Hattersley regarded photography as having a spiritual dimension; after pages of uncredited, uncaptioned photographs in a 1972 ''Aperture'' issue appears his statement; He wrote about printing in a darkroom as an opportunity for meditation, a quiet time that can be therapeutic, and further, that "the upside-down image on the ground glass tends to engage the right side of the brain, the artist's side, more than the technical, left side of the brain." White, in his ''Aperture'' editorial in 1964 praised his approach; Hattersley's book, ''Discover Yourself Through Photography'' enlarged on his ideas. Across the Atlantic however, British commentators regarded such sentiments about the medium with caution.


Photographer

In 1961
Ralph Ginzburg Ralph Ginzburg (October 28, 1929 – July 6, 2006) was an American editor, publisher, journalist, and photographer. He was best known for publishing books and magazines on erotica and art and for his conviction in 1963 for violating federal obsc ...
approached designer Herb Lubalin to design a new up-market periodical called ''Eros'', a magazine which took love and sex as its theme. It became the subject of a notorious freedom-of-speech trial with Ginzburg eventually being imprisoned in 1972 for 'distributing obscene material'; Hattersley's nude photographs are widely credited as being the trigger for the court case.


Later career

After teaching at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Hattersley moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. While there, he taught at various institutions including
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
,
Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...
, and the
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...
where he taught with Martin Friedman, Cora Kennedy, Roy Benson and Irene Stern. He served as a contributing editor to ''
Popular Photography ''Popular Photography'', formerly known as ''Popular Photography & Imaging'', also called ''Pop Photo'', is a monthly American consumer website and former magazine that at one time had the largest circulation of any imaging magazine, with an edit ...
'' starting in 1957, in which he wrote the column 'The Hattersley Class For Beginners'. Hattersley died on February 5, 2000, survived by his children, Cleve, Craig, and Lissa.


Influence

Hattersley was influential on a number of his students who went on to contribute significantly to the field. Among them were; * Pete Turner; *
Jerry Uelsmann Jerry Norman Uelsmann (June 11, 1934 – April 4, 2022) was an American photographer. As an emerging artist in the 1960s, Jerry Uelsmann received international recognition for surreal, enigmatic photographs (photomontages) made with his uniqu ...
, who described him as one of “my three photographic godfathers: Ralph Hattersley, Minor White, and Henry Holmes Smith”;
Bruce Gilden Bruce Gilden (born 1946) is an American street photographer. He is best known for his candid close-up photographs of people on the streets of New York City, using a flashgun. He has had various books of his work published, has received the Europea ...
; * Bruce Davidson, who studied at RIT 1951-4, remembered “an inspiring teacher, Ralph Hattersley. He showed us
Smith Smith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England ** List of people ...
, Cartier-Bresson,
Irving Penn Irving Penn (June 16, 1917October 7, 2009) was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still lifes. Penn's career included work at ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' magazine, and independent advertising work for clie ...
, and others. This really sent me in that direction—not imitating, but finding the way I wanted to photograph”; *
Nathan Lyons Nathan Lyons (January 10, 1930 – August 31, 2016) was an American photographer, curator, and educator. He exhibited his photographs from 1956 onwards, produced books of his own and edited those of others. Lyons was also a curator of photography ...
; * Hugh C. Browning; * Sardi Klein * Arno Rafael Minkkinen (who studied under Hattersley at School of Visual Arts, 1971 - 1972), * Australian Roger Hayne who was inspired by Hattersley's course to set up Photography Studies College in
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Another student, Carl Chiarenza, hoped that attending the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) would lead to ‘a decent job at Kodak’.CREATIVE AUDIENCE. (1984). Aperture (Archive : 1952-2005), (95), 38-44. In his third year there, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in photography was offered, developed by White and Hattersley. Chiarenza recalls,


Publications

* * * * * * * * * *Ralph Hattersley ‘A Handy Kit for Do-It-Yourself Critics’. In *Ralph Hattersley was managing editor of, and wrote in,


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hattersley, Ralph 20th-century American educators American art educators American art critics 1921 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American photographers American male journalists American editors United States Navy personnel of World War II American expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago University of Washington alumni Montana State University alumni