Willard "Herc" Detering Morgan (May 30, 1900 – September 18, 1967) was a photographer, writer, editor, and educator and the husband of photographer Barbara Morgan, known for her documentation of Martha Graham's dances.
Morgan's career spanned some of the most influential developments in the history of American photography. He was instrumental in introducing the first 35mm camera in the US, was an early director of photography at MOMA, and was the first to exhibit the Farm Security Administration photographers. He was also a writer and editor of technical publications on photography (from the Leica Manual, to Ansel Adams' Basic Photo Series, Encyclopedia of Photography, to Encyclopædia Britannica), and was a photo editor at LIFE and later a photo editor at Look.
Background Willard Morgan was born in Snohomish, Washington, on May 30, 1900, to Morgan and Marie Detering. Known to his friends as Herc, short for Hercules, Morgan was a very large man who stood 6'7" with a corresponding athletic build.Ansel Adams, An Autobiography, Mary Street Alinder, ed., New York Graphic Society (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1985) 323.7
California As a teenager in Pomona, California, Morgan operated a small press out of his home—writing articles, photographing, and editing small journals for youth groups.Adams, 1.
After graduating from Pomona College in 1923 with a degree in English, Morgan earned his living by writing freelance magazine articles and illustrating them with his photographs.Willard D. Morgan, resume, 20 May 1943, TD [Carbon], Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. He married Barbara Brooks Johnson, a painter on the art faculty of UCLA in 1925.Casey Allen, "Camera 35 Interview: Barbara Morgan," Camera 35, May 1977, 56. While she helped him with composition, he taught her photography.Casey Allen, 58. She would eventually use these lessons to produce photographs of Martha Graham."An Unforgettable Photo of Martha Graham," Joan Acocella, Smithsonian Magazine, June 2011
Morgan contacted Richard Neutra to discuss the influence of the automobile on architecture.Willard D. Morgan, "California Drive-In Markets Serve Motorists on the Go," Chain Store Review, September 1928, 29-31. The relationship would last a lifetime, with Willard photographing all aspects of construction of the Lovell house in the 1920s, writing articles about it,[Willard D. Morgan], "The Demonstration Health House, Los Angeles, Richard J. Neutra, Architect," The Architectural Record, May 1930, 433-439.Willard D. Morgan, "An Architect's Warm-Air Heated Health House," Sheet Metal Worker, 11 July 1930, 410-411, 419. and publishing Richard Neutra on Building: Mystery & Realities of the Site in 1951.Thomas Hines, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982) 101.
35mm photography and the Southwest Morgan first saw the 35mm Leica model A camera in 1928.Emil G. Keller, The Source of Today's Thirty-Five Millimeter Photography (Millbrook: N.Y. Butts Hollow Services, 1986), Chap 8. He wrote to E. Leitz in New York City and proposed trading two Leica cameras and other necessary equipment in exchange for articles that would feature photographs made by the Leica, highlighting the possibilities of its small size.Willard D. Morgan, Echo Park Los Angeles Ca, to(Advertising Manager, E. Leitz, New York, N.Y.) May 3, 1928, Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. File 31.1, AB
In 1928, Barbara and Willard Morgan set out to capture the Southwest landscape on film. Morgan used these images to illustrate his articles, becoming the first American photographer to use the 35mm Leica as a professional camera.Willard D. Morgan, Echo Park Los Angeles Ca, to(H. Wechsler Vice-President and Sales Manager E. Leitz New York, N.Y.) Nov- 17 1928, Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. File 31.1, Box AC. Morgan was offered a position at E. Leitz, Inc. as a 35mm camera promoter, so the couple moved to New York City in 1930.
In 1931, Morgan lectured throughout the US on the use of the 35mm Leica camera for Leitz.Leica Demonstration Lecture Given by Willard D. Morgan. 1930 Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. File 31.8 Box AC During this time, he also redesigned a Leica projector—originally fit to project large format lantern slides or continuous filmstrips—to accommodate a new slide that would become the standard. He created the Leitz publication Leica Photography in 1932 and continued to publicize the Leica camera. He also patented the FocoSlide, a copying device manufactured by Leitz, which improved the Leica's performance in copy and macro applications by allowing the photographer to view exactly what the lens would see, without parallax.Emil G. Keller, The Source of Today's Thirty-Five Millimeter Photography (Millbrook: N.Y. Butts Hollow Services, 1986), Chap 7. In 1933, Morgan produced and curated the First Annual Leica Photographic Salon, one of the first 35mm exhibitions to be held outside a camera club.
Morgan & Lester (Henry M. Lester) Publishers was founded in 1934, and Leica Manual was the firm's first book, published the next year. Morgan edited the Leica Manual, written and illustrated by specialists in the miniature field. Leica Manual went through 15 editions with over a million copies sold. A Spanish translation of the Leica Manual was printed in 1954.
Life magazine
From the onset of Life magazine in 1936, Morgan worked as the contributions editor for two years. With only four staff photographers,Masthead, LIFE, 23 November 1936, 7- Life originally based the majority of photo-illustrations on reader contributions, and Willard's department solicited and selected those images.Willard D. Morgan, interview by Alex Groner for Time Inc., 21 March 1956, TMs, Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. 1-3. He recalls one photographer who came into his office: "Weegee was one that I first found through the contributor department. And I remember he came in there with a pack of pictures under his arm one day and his old worn-out overcoat, and I thought he was a Bowery bum."Morgan, interview, 6. Edward Weston and Carl Mydans were also selected through Morgan's office – the latter soon becoming a staff photographer.Masthead, LIFE, 9 August 1937, 15.
In 1938, as director of exhibits at Life magazine, Morgan was responsible for the first showing of the Farm Security Administration photographs in the First International Photographic Exposition in New York City."Modern Photography on Parade, The First International Photographic Exposition, Grand Central Palace, New York City, N.Y.", , Roy Stryker Collection, Photo Archives, Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville. FSA photographers Russell Lee and Arthur Rothstein assembled the photographs."Copy of worksheets used by Russell Lee and Arthur Rothstein to assemble the show,", TD, Roy Stryker Collection, Photo Archives, Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville. In correspondence with Roy Stryker, Morgan reflects on the reaction to the exhibit: Turned out that I had plenty of criticism and some violent reactions from the public. The pictorial and Oval Table Society bunch were down on me and wanted to remove the FSA photos as not being worthy of the Show ... Yes, Mr. Bing, the father of the Oval Table Society threatened to pull out of the exhibition because I hung the FSA photos in the next gallery to his pictorial, mostly soft-focus pictures. He could see one of our big enlargements over the partition ... so I smoothed out his feathers by lowering your photo so he couldn't see it from his booth. Even then he kept grumbling about the FSA photos not being worthy of showing.Willard D. Morgan to Roy Stryker, 25 February 1964, TL, Roy Stryker Collection, Photo Archives, Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville. Edward Steichen wrote an article for U.S. Camera Annual in 1939, commending the show.Edward Steichen, "FSA Photographers, " 1939 U.S. Camera Annual 43.
Museum of Modern Art In 1943, the Museum of Modern Art appointed Morgan as the first Director of its photography collections as well as its newly established Photography Center.Press Release, "Museum of Modern Art Opens Photography Center on West 54th Street," , Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. In the October/November MoMA bulletin introducing the center and its new Director, Willard writes,
Photography has been a natural development of the mechanical age. It is man's way of showing a world image. With such readily expressive medium, anyone can use the camera- for casual snapshots, for commercial gain, or for the photographs which have more than a transitory value ... something possessing greater depth of perception and meaning. It is not my intention to force photography in a narrow or precious direction, but here at the Photography Center to encourage its varied possibilities and affirm its simple honesty. The purpose of the Photography Center is to watch and encourage the best in all photography.Bulletin, "The Museum of Modern Art Annex Photography Center 9 West 54th Street," October/November 1943, Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. 4
As director, Morgan organized an extensive lecture series. The first lecture, "Standards of Photographic Criticism", a discussion by three critics about the nature and standards of the photo critic's task, was attended by some 250 people.Lecture Invitation, The Museum of Modern Art, 20 March 1944, Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY.Willard D. Morgan to Norris Harkness, 24 March 1944, TL [Carbon], Newhall Years, Photography Study Center, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Weegee presented a lecture at the Center entitled "Realism in Photography"; Barbara Morgan spoke on "Imagination in Photography"; and a panel consisting of Charles Sheeler, Hyatt Mayer, Paul Strand, and Ben Shahn discussed "Photography and the Other Arts".Willard D. Morgan to Ben Shahn, 14 April 1944, TL[Carbon], Newhall Years, Photography Study Center, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Morgan scheduled Ansel Adams to deliver six public lectures at the Center In 1945,Willard D. Morgan to Ansel Adams, 1 March 1944, TL [Carbon], Newhall Years, Photography Study Center, Museum of Modern Art, New York. which later became the basis for The Basic Photo Series, which were the first of Adams' publications to include his Zone System principles."Notes on Ansel Adams Lectures Delivered at The Photography Center on May 17, 19, 22, 24 & 26, 1944," TD, Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. In 1948, Morgan began editing and publishing these books these books with Henry Lester, through their publishing house Morgan & Lester.
Morgan established a lantern slide collection for loans to museums, lecturers and school departments, with specific mimeographed notes on "The History of Photography" and "What is Photography."Willard D. Morgan, "Budget for Photography Department, Museum of Modern Art, 1943-1944," 11–14 May 1943, TD [Carbon], Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY.
In the museum proper, Morgan curated the controversial exhibition entitled "The American Snapshot",Willard D. Morgan to Dr. Walter Clark, 31 March 1944, TL [Carbon], Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY. of which a U.S. Camera review says, "Whether we call them snapshots or some other name, these pictures constitute the most vital, most dynamic, and most interesting and worthwhile photographic exhibition ever assembled by the Museum of Modern Art.""The American Snapshot, Modern Museum's Idea of the Folk Art of the Camera is a Bit Hard to Swallow," U.S. Camera, May 1944, 36.
During Morgan's tenure, he actively expanded on MoMA's print collection, adding significant holdings of Farm Security Administration images and scientific photography, which he found revealed new possibilities to artistic photographers through their technical experiments.Willard D. Morgan, "Budget for Photography Department, Museum of Modern Art, 1943-1944," 11–14 May 1943, TD [Carbon] Morgan Archive, Westchester County, NY, 4.