William E. Dassonville American, 1879-1957
William Dassonville (born in Sacramento) was a pictorial photographer active in San Francisco during the first two decades of the 20th century. In addition to the pictorial work he produced for exhibition, Dassonville operated a professional portrait studio. A member of the California Camera Club, he gave lectured on art photography and contributed articles to Camera Craft, a photographic journal affiliated with the club. He exhibited his work in the first three San Francisco Photographic Salons (1901-3), as well as in other salons in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.
After losing all of his work in the 1906 earthquake, Dassonville left San Francisco for the Sierra Nevada. He later returned to the city, reestablishing his studio and exhibiting his photographs made in the mountains. In the early 1920s he began making photographic paper for his own use and in 1924 gave up his studio to concentrate on the manufacture of "Dassonville" paper. M.M.