Prof. Emeritus Ira Hinsdale Latour

1920 - 2015

PROFESSOR EMERITUS, IRA HINSDALE LATOUR Professor Emeritus, Ira Hinsdale Latour, 3rd Generation Photographer, Award Winning Cinema-tographer, Art Historian died July 19th. He was 95. His wife, Terri, and son, Marcus were at his side Born in New York, at 3 months old, his family moved to San Francis-co then Berkeley and Carmel. Ira's grandfather, William Latour, learned daguerreotype photography in the early 1850's. His son, Ira Hinsdale Latour, Ira's father, co-founded the California Photographer's Association in San Francisco in 1903. As a young child, his teacher recognized Ira's gift for Art and recom-mended that he be given private lessons. He began private art lessons with Joseph Paget Fredericks, while also taking classes at the California College of Arts and Crafts from the age of ten. He continued his art education at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts, now known as the San Francisco Art Institute. At age 17, he was commissioned by the National Railways of Mexico to paint a mural for the Mexican Pavilion for the 1939-40 Golden Gate Exhibition in San Francisco. Rather than waiting to be drafted, he joined the P-48th Fighter Squadron and served as chief aerial combat photographer for the combat in England, North Africa and Italy. After his discharge, he returned home to Carmel where after a little "flirting on the beach" as told to Terri, he decided to sign up for Ansel Adam's first class at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1945. In Carmel, he met Edward Weston who later became his mentor. Through his association with Ansel, he got to meet the main participants of the "West Coast Golden Age" photographers like Minor White, Imogene Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Ruth Barnhardt. After college at the University of California in Berkeley, he and his writer friend, Gene Thompson, decided to pursue photo journalism for the Marshall Plan headquartered in Paris. Ira loved living in Europe, and he got a job as Head of Photography for the Army in Europe. He hosted a weekly radio show on photography that was broadcast to armed forces personnel. He also wrote for German, British, an American photography publications and had time to travel and take pictures. He returned to San Francisco in the late 50's and taught photography at San Francisco State College. He got lured back to Germany with the offer from the newspaper "Overseas Weekly" to be their International Media Director. This offer appealed to Ira because he could then do the documentary about Spanish architect, "Gaudi". Ira met Terri in San Francisco just days before he left for Europe. He saw Terri again in 1964 and in 1966, they got married in Bern, Switzerland. They have one son, Marcus, who was born in Nurnberg, Germany. In 1968, he started teaching at Chico State in the Art History Dept. He said he enjoyed teaching for Chico State because as a "generalist teacher" he got to teach 32 different classes over the 23 yrs. of his time at Chico State University. Ira was involved in two community-spon-sored events. The Sesquisentennial cele-bration for "Chico celebrates 150 years of Photography". It was the largest celebration in the nation. There were 35 events. The other event was the "Picture the Arts" an event supporting the area's Art and Culture programs. He made two documentaries with Professor Valene Smith; Three Stone Blades and Visual Pioneers of the 19th century, Theodore Wores. Ira has credits on more than 20 award winning films including one Academy Award nomination. His films and photographs are in several hundred collections worldwide including the Smithsonian National Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. As an Eagle Scout in his teens, he enjoyed leading the hikes for the younger scouts in the Sierra Nevada mountains He loved horses. He won 11 blue ribbons in jumping at age 11. Ira was the epitome of a true gentleman, an eternal optlmlst, who loved creativity, and ideas and his students placed uppermost in his teaching career. He is survived by his wife Terri, his son, Marcus, nephew Dr Richard Viellle, niece, Ann Lydon (Sandy) niece, Debra Dimla (Patrick) Mariana Dimla, nephew, Tommy Pangelinan and more nephews and nieces in Guam and the U.S. The family would like to thank Roseleaf Senior Care and Enloe Hospital for their kind care and consideration. If you are thinking flowers, please donate to the Butte Humane Society. There will be a grave site service at Glen Oaks Cemetery at 11:00 a.m. on the 11th of August followed by a memorial at Trinity Hall at Chico State University. Online condolences can be sent to the family at www.brusiefh.com