INGE MORATH 1923 – 2002
When Inge Morath met the war photographer Robert Capa at the photo agency Magnum in Paris in July 1949, the life of the 26-year-old Austrian journalist took a new turn. It would still take a few years before Inge Morath felt so at ease with the Leica that she began working for Magnum as a photographer in 1953 and joined as a full member in 1956.
Born in Graz in 1923, the young Inge Morath was accustomed to adapting to new people and languages, as her parents’ work took the family to different parts of Europe. This special gift made it easier for her to pick up languages later when she travelled the world as a photojournalist.
After attending secondary school in Berlin during the early years of the Nazi regime, she was conscripted into “labour service” for the Reich before being accepted to study Romance languages at the city’s Friedrich Wilhelm University. After this she was forced to work at an armaments factory in Tempelhof. Mustering all her courage to flee during an air raid, she managed to rejoin her parents in Salzburg.
After the war she was employed in Vienna as an editor for the illustrated magazine “Heute” published by the US Military Administration in Munich. She often worked with the photographer Ernst Haas, and in 1949 they were both discovered by the photo agency Magnum. This was the start of her international career as a travel, portrait and reportage photographer.
In January 1954, Robert Capa sent Inge Morath to Spain on her first reportage commission. Her constant companions were two Leica cameras (one for black and white and one for colour), a viewfinder and a selection of lenses. She spent several weeks in Madrid documenting the private and professional life of the lawyer Mercedes Formica, who campaigned successfully for women’s rights under the Franco regime. And she made it an iron rule to record her experiences in detailed written notes.
A later commission took Morath to London. Alongside views of the city, she took portraits, not least of the wealthy Mrs Eveleigh Nash, who devoted herself to preparing debutantes for their presentation at Court.
On her first assignment as a stills photographer, Inge Morath drove across the United States with Henry Cartier-Bresson to Reno, Nevada for the shoot of the film “The Misfits” based on the book by Arthur Miller, starring Marilyn Monroe, the most famous actress of the day. The following year she met Miller again, and the year after that they were married. Their journeys – several times to the Soviet Union, to China and Cambodia – often resulted in joint publications. This was the age of illustrated travel books, and there was a demand for distant landscapes and unfamiliar faces. Inge Morath documents everyday life, a silent observer who depicts foreign cultures, people and places with “considerate kindness” (Arthur Miller).
Das Verborgene Museum is also displaying pictures of Inge Morath’s studio in Roxbury (USA) by the Austrian photographer Kurt Kaindl. These insights into her personal world are shown alongside her portraits of artists and travel impressions from countries including Italy, China, Russia, Iran and Spain.
Biography ...
OPENING
Wednesday, 25. April 2018 | 19 h
SPEAKER
Elisabeth Moortgat
Das Verborgene Museum
Kurt Kaindl
FOTOHOF Salzburg
Die Fotografin Inge Morath – Bilder und Briefe
Duration
26. April 2018 - 26. August 2018
OPENING HOURS
The Museum is only open during the exhibition period !!
Thursday, Friday 15 - 19 h
Saturday, Sunday 12 - 16 h
LOCATION
DAS VERBORGENE MUSEUM
Schlüterstrasse 70
10625 Berlin-Charlottenburg
TRAFFIC CONNECTION
S5, 7, 75, 9 Savignyplatz
U2 Ernst-Reuter-Platz,
Bus M49, X34, 101
CITYMAP
PHONE
+49 (0) 30 313 36 56
MAIL ADDRESS
Picture Quotes | Exhibition Inge Morath
PUBLICATION
“Inge Morath – Fotografien”, edited by Kurt Kaindl with texts by Inge Morath, Kurt Kaindl, Margit Zuckriegl, published by Edition Fotohof, Salzburg 2000, can be bought at the museum for € 42.00.
MOVIE | To be seen only in the exhibition
Documentary film screening
“Copyright by Inge Morath" (1991) is the portrait of a photographer and extraordinary woman, the story of an unusual artist marriage, and a piece of the history of photography. The film by Berlin director Sabine Eckhard gives an uncommented insight into the life and work of Inge Morath and shows her at home in Connecticut, New York and Paris, along with colleagues such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliot Erwitt, as well as with her husband Arthur Miller.