Inge Morath

Ingeborg Morath (May 27, 1923 – January 30, 2002) was an Austrian photographer. In 1953 she joined the Magnum Photos Agency. She became a full photographer with them in 1955. In 1955 she published her first collection of photographs, of a total of 30 monographs during her lifetime.

Early years (1923-1945)

Ingeborg Morath was born in Graz, Austria. Her parents were scientists. They went to different laboratories and universities in Europe during her childhood. She first went to French-speaking schools. In the 1930s her family moved to Darmstadt, a German intellectual center. Then they moved to Berlin.

Morath's first encounter with avant-garde art was the Degenerate Art show by the Nazi party in 1937. It was supposed to make people not like modern art. "I found a number of these paintings exciting and fell in love with Franz Marc's Blue Horse", Morath later wrote.

Morath went to Berlin University. At university, Morath studied languages. She learned French, English, and Romanian. Later she added Spanish, Russian and Chinese. Toward the end of World War II, Morath worked for factory service in Tempelhof, alongside Ukrainian prisoners of war. During an attack on the factory by Russian bombers, she ran on foot to Austria. In later years, Morath would not photograph war.

Middle Years (1945-1962)

After the Second World War, Morath worked as a translator and journalist. In 1948, she was hired by Warren Trabant. She worked for Heute. Morath met photographer Ernst Haas in post-war Vienna. She brought his work to Trabant's attention. Working together for Heute, Morath wrote articles to go along with Haas' pictures. In 1949, Morath and Haas were invited by Robert Capa to join the newly founded Magnum Photos in Paris.

Morath was briefly married to the British journalist Lionel Birch. She moved to London in 1951. That same year, she began to photograph during a visit to Venice. Morath asked for an apprenticeship with Simon Guttman. He was then an editor for Picture Post and running the picture-agency Report.

Morath divorced Birch and returned to Paris. Her first jobs were stories that did not interest "the big boys." She went to London on an early job to photograph the residents of Soho and Mayfair. Morath's portrait of Mrs. Eveleigh Nash, from that job, is among her best-known works. During the late 1950s Morath traveled widely. She covered stories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United States, and South America. She worked for such publications as Holiday, Paris Match, and Vogue. In 1955 she published Guerre à la Tristesse, photographs of Spain, with Robert Delpire. This was followed by De la Perse à l'Iran, photographs of Iran, in 1958. Morath published more than thirty monographs during her lifetime.

Like many Magnum members, Morath worked as a still photographer on numerous motion picture sets. She met director John Huston while she was living in London. Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952) was one of Morath's earliest jobs. It was her first time working in a film studio.

Marriage and family

Morath married the playwright Arthur Miller on February 17, 1962. They moved to the United States. Miller and Morath's first child, Rebecca, was born in September 1962. The couple's second child Daniel was born in 1966 with Down syndrome. He was institutionalized shortly after his birth. Today Rebecca Miller is a film director, actress, and writer.

Death

Ingeborg Morath Miller died of cancer in New York City in 2002, at the age of 78.

Honors and legacy

• 2003, her family established the Inge Morath Foundation.
• 2002, members of Magnum Photos made the Inge Morath Award in honor of their colleague as an annual award. It is administered by the Inge Morath Foundation, and is given to a woman photographer under the age of 30, to support her work towards the completion of a long-term project.
• 1992 Great Austrian State Prize for Photography.
• 1984 Doctor Honoris Causa Fine Arts, University of Connecticut, Hartford, USA.
• 1983 State of Michigan Senate Resolution NO 295; Tribute to Inge Morath.

Selected One-Person Exhibitions

• 2008 Well Disposed and Trying to See: Inge Morath and Arthur Miller in China, University of Michigan Art Museum, Ann Arbor, USA.
• 2004 Inge Morath: The Road to Reno, Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois, USA.
• 2004 Inge Morath: Chinese Encounters, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
• 2003 Exposition, Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Paris, France.
• 2002 Inge Morath: Danube, City Gallery of Russe, Russe, Bulgaria.
• 2002 Inge Morath: New York, Galerie Fotohof, Salzburg, Austria; Stadt Passau, Europäische; Wochen, Germany ESWE Forum, Wiesbaden; Esther Woerdehoff Galerie, Paris, France; Amerikahaus Tübingen, Germany.
• 1999 Retrospective, Kunsthalle Wien, Austria; FNAC Etoile, Paris, France; FNAC, Barcelona, Spain.
• 1999 Spain in the Fifties, Museo del Cabilde, Montevideo, Uruguay.
• 1998 Inge Morath: Danube, Festival of Central European Culture, London, UK; Museen d. Stadt Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
• 1998 Retrospective, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, UK; Museum of Photography in Charleroi, Belgium; Municipal Gallery, Pamplona, Spain.
• 1998 Celebrating 75 Years Leica Gallery, New York, USA.
• 1997 Retrospective Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
• 1997 Inge Morath: Danube, Keczkemet Museum, Esztergom Museum, Hungary
• 1997 Photographs 1950s to 1990s, Tokyo Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
• 1996 Women to Women, Takashimaya Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
• 1996 Inge Morath: Danube, Neues Schauspielhaus, Berlin, Germany; Leica Gallery, New York, USA; Galeria Fotoforum, Bolzano, Italy.
• 1995 Spain in the fifties, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid, Spain; Museo de Navarra,Pamplona, Spain.
• 1994 Spain in the fifties, Spanish Institute, New York, USA
• 1992/94 Retrospective, Neue Galerie Linz, Austria ;America House, Frankfurt, Germany; Hardenberg Gallery, Velbert, Germany; Galerie Fotogramma, Milano, Italy; Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK; Smith Gallery and Museum, Stirling, UK; America House, Berlin, Germany; Hradcin Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic.
• 1991 Portraits, Kolbe Museum Berlin, Germany; Rupertinum Museum Salzburg, Austria
• 1989 Portraits, Burden Gallery, Aperture Foundation, New York, New York, USA; Norwich Cathedral, Norwich, UK; American Cultural Center, Brussels, Belgium.
• 1988 Retrospective, Union of Photojournalists, Moscow, Russia; Sala del Canal Museum, Madrid, Spain; Rupertinum Museum, Salzburg, Austria.
• 1984 Salesman in Beijing, Hong Kong Theatre Festival.
• 1979 Inge Morath: Photographs of China, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, USA.
• 1964 Inge Morath: Photographs, Gallery 104, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Selected Monographs

• 2009 Inge Morath: First Color. Steidl, Germany. ISBN 978-3-86521-930-5
• 2009 Inge Morath: Iran. Steidl, Germany. ISBN 978-3-86521-697-7
• 2006 The Road to Reno. Steidl, Germany. ISBN 978-3-86521-203-0
• 2003 Inge Morath: Last Journey Prestel. ISBN 978-3-7913-2773-0
• 2002 New York. Otto Müller/Verlag, Austria. ISBN 978-3-7013-1048-7
• 2000 Saul Steinberg Masquerade. Viking Studio, USA. ISBN 978-0-670-89425-3
• 1999 Inge Morath: Life as a Photographer. Kehayoff Books, Germany. ISBN 978-3-929078-92-3
• 1999 Arthur Miller: Photographed by Inge Morath. FNAC, Spain.
• 1999 Inge Morath: Portraits. Verlag, Austria.
• 1996 Woman to Woman. Magnum Photos, Japan.
• 1995 Donau. Verlag, Austria. ISBN 978-3-7013-0916-0
• 1994 Inge Morath: Spain in the Fifties. Arte con Texto, Spain.
• 1992 Inge Morath: Photographs 1952 to 1992. Otto Müller/Verlag, Austria.
• 1991 Russian Journal. Aperture Foundation, USA. ISBN 978-1-85619-102-9
• 1986 Portraits. Aperture, USA. ISBN 978-0-89381-244-7
• 1984 Salesman in Beijing. with Arthur Miller. Viking Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-670-61601-5
• 1981 Bilder aus Wien: Der Liebe Augustin. Reich Verlag, Switzerland.
• 1979 Chinese Encounters. with Arthur Miller. Straus & Giroux, USA.
• 1979 Inge Morath: Photographs of China. Grand Rapids Art Museum, USA.
• 1977 In the Country. Viking Press, USA.
• 1975 Grosse Photographen unserer Zeit: Inge Morath. C.J. Bucher Verlag, Switzerland.
• 1973 East West Exercises. Simon Walker & Co., USA.
• 1972 In Russia Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-02028-7
• 1969 In Russia. Viking Press, USA.
• 1967 Le Masque (Drawings by Saul Steinberg). Maeght Editeur, France.
• 1960 Bring Forth the Children: A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East. McGraw-Hill, USA.
• 1958 De la Perse à l'Iran. Robert Delpire, France.
• 1956 Venice Observed. Reynal & Co., USA.
• 1956 Fiesta in Pamplona. Universe Books, USA.
• 1955 Guerre à la Tristesse. Robert Delpire, France.