At first sight

The perfect moment by Inge Morath, two hundred photos at Palazzo Grimani
by Elisabetta Gardin

In the hundredth anniversary of the great Austrian photographer (Graz, Austria, 1923 – New York, 2002), Palazzo Grimani houses exhibition Inge Morath. Fotografare da Venezia in poi, curated by Kurt Kaindl and Brigitte Blüml, which includes over two hundred pictures from Morath’s travels around the world: Spain, France, Iran, China, USA, Russia and… Venice.

A special section is dedicated to photographs of Venice. The photographer first visited Venice in 1951 on her honeymoon. She soon fell in love with the city, the islands, the art, the light, the people, and the cats… at the time, Inge Morath did have a job at Magnum, though not as a photographer, but as an editor. She would write captions for photographs taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour, George Rodger, and Robert Capa, among others.

Inge Morath, Venezia, 1955 © Fotohof Archiv, Inge Morath, Magnum PhotosHer career change was Capa’s idea, who trusted Morath’s eye and knew she had a beautiful soul. Venice was her first photo pheature for Magnum. On the set of The Misfits, while working on a feature, Inge Morath met Arthur Miller, who at the time was married to Marilyn Monroe, starring in the movie. The relationship between Morath and Miller ended up in marriage in 1962. She moved to America and kept working and travelling with her new husband while also making famous portraits of the American cultural elite of the time.