Early years (1923-1945)
change
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.
[2]
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)
change
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.
[3]
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 a la Tristesse
, photographs of Spain, with
Robert Delpire
. This was followed by
De la Perse a 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
change
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.
[4]
Today Rebecca Miller is a film director, actress, and writer.
Ingeborg Morath Miller died of
cancer
in
New York City
in 2002, at the age of 78.
[1]