Inge Morath: Romanian Journal

“I love voyages. Voyages where the going from one place to the other informs, allows one to go deeper. One day, in May of the year 1958, it became clear to me that to follow the Danube from its source to its end was one of those inevitable voyages.”

Inge Morath’s dream of traveling the length of the Danube River, begun in 1958, was not realized until 1995. In 1958, six of the nations bordering the river were led by Communist governments which placed severe limitations on Western photojournalists. As she later wrote, “Either one was refused a visa right away, or one got one only good for transit, or for a stay of one to three days but with restrictions as to the places one could visit.” Morath was denied even a transit visa to Hungary. To her surprise, however, she received permission to travel and photograph in Romania twice during 1958. Continue reading Romanian Journal →

Inge Morath & Arthur Miller: China

In 1978, only two years after the end of the Cultural Revolution, Inge Morath and her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, were invited to travel to China. They returned again in 1979 and 1983. Morath made some of her best-known images during these visits. Inge Morath & Arthur Miller: China is an exhibition of photographs by Morath accompanied by excerpts from Morath’s and Miller’s journals; she with her knowledge of Chinese language, poetry, and history, and he with his interest in the politics of the present moment.

Thematically, Inge Morath & Arthur Miller: China describes the reflections of two Americans, “well disposed and trying to see and listen,” as Miller wrote. The exhibition portrays their experience of China’s culture through meetings with its most notable representatives: actors, writers, painters, and others, many of whom had suffered during the Cultural Revolution. Continue reading Inge Morath & Arthur Miller: China →

Inge Morath: The Road to Reno

The Road to Reno is a document of the 18 day trip across the United States, from New York City to Reno, Nevada, made by Inge Morath and Henri Cartier-Bresson en route to the set of The Misfits in 1960. Developed into a screenplay from a short story that he’d written, The Misfits was an “offering” from playwright Arthur Miller to actress Marilyn Monroe. In 1958, Miller presented the script to John Huston, who had earlier worked with Monroe in The Asphalt Jungle, and he agreed to direct the film. Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach signed on as the film’s co-stars, and producer Frank Taylor signed an exclusive contract with Magnum Photos to document the making of the film.

Photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, a founding member of Magnum Photos from France, and the Austrian born Inge Morath, who became a Magnum member in 1955, were the first of nine photographers selected to work on the set of the film. It was Morath’s first trip across the US, and they followed a southern route drawn on a map in red grease-pencil by Cartier-Bresson, through Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, New Mexico, and California before heading north to Nevada. Continue reading The Road to Reno →

Traveling School & Library Exhibition

In celebration of Inge Morath’s support for arts in education during her lifetime, the Inge Morath Foundation is pleased to announce the Traveling School & Library Exhibition program, a traveling exhibition of Inge Morath’s photographs. The exhibition presents 25 of Morath’s best known photographs, covering the full range of her work as an artist and photojournalist. The exhibition was developed with the interests of children in mind, and includes portraits, documents of near and faraway places, and images celebrating human creativity. While some schools have used the exhibition to supplement their arts programming, others have developed school-wide curriculum around it. The program was launched in January 2004, and has traveled to:

• Kent School, Kent, CT (July 2004)
• Rumsey Hall School, Washington Depot, CT (December 2004)
• Dunbarton Elementary School, Dunbarton, NH (March 2005)
• Souhegan High School, Amherst, NH (May 2005)
• Milford High School, Milford, NH (June 2005)
• Minor Memorial Library, Roxbury, CT (October 2005)
• Chase Collegiate School, Waterbury, CT (November 2005)
• Millbrook School, Milbrook, NY (January 2006)
• Brooklyn Heights Montessori School, Brooklyn, NY (January 2007)
• Taft School, Watertown, CT (February 2011)
• Brimmer and May School, Chestnum Hill, MA (Spring 2011/tba)

“The Morath exhibit was a very positive experience for us. We felt lucky, indeed, to be chosen. The photographs looked wonderful in our library and inspired our students to look at photography in a new way.” Nancy Bennison, Goffstown High School The Traveling School & Library Exhibition: Photography by Inge Morath is framed and crated to museum standards, and is available free of charge to elementary and high-schools throughout the US. Frames are suitable for hanging, or the exhibition may be installed using sturdy aluminum stands provided by the Foundation. The exhibition is fully insured by the Inge Morath Foundation, and shipping is negotiable. If you are interested in participating in the tour of Inge Morath’s photographs, or if you have any questions about the program, please contact us: [email protected].