Inge Morath Award

The second exhibition in the new FOTOHOF at Inge-Morath-Platz is dedicated to four winners of the “Inge Morath Award“. They are the photographers Olivia Arthur, Lurdes R. Basoli, Zhe Chen and Emily Schiffer. In the library, photographs from Inge Morath’s first important book of photographs on Spain, published in 1955, are on display.

The “Inge Morath Award“ has been presented since the death of Inge Morath in 2002 in memory of this legendary Magnum photographer. It is offered jointly by the “Inge Morath Foundation” and the “Magnum” agency and is judged by members of the agency.
The special requirements of this prize are that it is reserved for female photographers under the age of 30; it is intended to help complete a previously unpublished body of work. Since it was first awarded, this prize has enjoyed a high international reputation and is often the entry ticket for the prize winners into a photographic career between journalistic photography and artistic aspirations.

FOTOHOF has selected four prize winners from recent years for the exhibition:
Olivia Arthur, United Kingdom, “The Middle Distance“ (2007 award winner).
Zhe Chen, China / USA, “Bees“, (award winner 2011)
Lurdes R. Basoli, Spain “Caracas, the city of lost bullets“ (winner 2010)
Emily Schiffer, USA, “Cheyenne River“ (award winner 2009)

Inge Morath was born in Austria in 1923 and went to France and the USA soon after the end of the Second World War and was a member of the “Magnum“ photo agency for over 50 years. In 1991, the FOTOHOF worked with her to produce the exhibition and illustrated book “Salzburg – An Artists View“, and she was also awarded the inaugural Austrian State Prize for Photography that year. Since then, the FOTOHOF has produced numerous illustrated books and exhibition together with Inge Morath and it was an intensive artistic collaboration until her death. In appreciation of this fruitful connection and because Inge Morath also lived in Salzburg for a long time after the Second World War, the “Inge-Morath-Platz“ was named after her.
Inge Morath herself has always been a strong supporter of young photographers. As one of the first female members of the until then (and still later) male-dominated Magnum agency, the female aspect in photojournalism was particularly important to her. However, she never pursued this point of view out of a sociopolitical commitment; instead, the individual promotion of young female photographers was always important to her. Against this background, the exhibition of the prize winners of the competition named after her is hopefully the homage that she herself would have wished for. The exhibition of young female photographers is complemented by some pictures from the first illustrated book published by Inge Morath: “Guerre à la tristesse“ (French edition) and “Fiesta in Pamplona“ (English edition, both 1955). At the time, at the age of 32, she herself was at the beginning of her photographic career.