Austrian Photographer Inge Morath
Magnum Photo Member Has Left an Impact on Photographic History
Feb 13, 2008
Ingeborg Morath was born in 1923 in Graz, Austria to two scientists, and traveled all over Europe as a child due to her parents' work. In the 1930s, the family settled in Darmstadt, Germany and later in Berlin. It was here that Morath discovered her love of art.
The Nazis were holding a modern art exhibit in 1937 in which viewers were to only make negative comments toward the works. Their intention was to produce negative opinions toward avant-garde art. While Morath's feelings were the opposite of the Fascist party's, she kept quiet.
World War II
After high school and the onset of World War II, Morath was forced to join the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labour Service) for six months before she could enroll in a higher education institution.
Morath, after her service, studied at Berlin University despite the current battleground. She was drafted at the end of the war to work in a factory. But during an attack there by the Russians, Morath escaped to Austria. The experience must have been traumatic because she never agreed to photograph war later on.
The Accidental Photographer
Inge Morath didn't intend to be photographer, let alone one of the most influential. She began her professional career working as a translator after studying languages in Berlin. After her job as a translator, Morath became a journalist and an editor.
As a journalist, Morath wrote articles for her photographer friend, Ernst Haas. At the start of the 1950s, Morath was invited by Magnum Photos founder Robert Capa to work in Paris as an editor for the now highly-acclaimed agency for photojournalists. In 1955, after she found her true passion as a photographer, she became a member of Magnum.
Influentual Work
Morath began her career by working numerous times as a still photographer on films including Moulin Rouge (1952), The Unforgiven (1960) and The Misfits (1961). It was while working on The Misfits that she met her future spouse, playwright Arthur Miller (who was then married to actress Marilyn Monroe).
Her work is often seen as somewhat whimsical and from another world. Perhaps one of Morath's quirkiest sets of photos was the 1962 Mask Series in which she collaborated with cartoonist and illustrator Saul Steinberg. The photographs consist of various subjects posing in front of the camera wearing paper bags on their heads. Steinberg provided his touch by drawing caricature faces on the bags.
Although, Morath was considered a photojournalist, she is well-known for her portraits, especially of celebrities. This work took her to places such as Dr. Zhivago writer Boris Pasternak's home and Mao Tse Tung's bedroom.
Legacy
On January 30, 2002, Morath lost a battle to cancer at the age of 78. Upon her passing, her family created The Inge Morath Foundation to keep her legacy alive. Magnum Photos also established the Inge Morath Award that year. The accolade is given annually to a female photographer under 30 in order to support her work.
In Life as a Photographer, Morath wrote, "Photography is a strange phenomenon...No two photographers, even if they were at the same place at the same time, come back with the same pictures."
It is this philosophy which makes Inge Morath truly unique.
Sources:
Inge Morath's Photos at Magnum
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