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.
- 2009       _Inge Morath: Iran_. Steidl, Germany.
- 2006       _The Road to Reno_. Steidl, Germany.
- 2003 _Inge Morath: Last Journey_ Prestel.
- 2002       _New York_. Otto Müller/Verlag, Austria.
- 2000       _Saul Steinberg Masquerade_. Viking Studio, USA.
- 1999       _Inge Morath: Life as a Photographer_. Kehayoff Books, Germany.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1986       _Portraits_. Aperture, USA.
- 1984       _Salesman in Beijing_. with Arthur Miller. Viking Press, USA.
- 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.
- 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.