Inge Morath Photos on View at SBU

Eighteen photographs by the late photojournalist Inge Morath are on view through Feb. 14 at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The photographs are on loan from a private collection.

The Austrian-born Morath, a gifted writer, discovered her talents as a photographer almost by accident. In 1949, she joined the newly founded Magnum Photos as an editor and became fascinated with the art of photography. She began photographing independently in London in 1951 and was asked to join Magnum as a photographer in 1953. She would stay with the agency for 50 years.

Morath traveled extensively for Magnum, covering assignments in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United States and South America. She also worked as a still photographer on numerous motion picture sets and her portraits of Marilyn Monroe, although not in this exhibition, are among the most graceful images of the late actress.

Morath married American playwright Arthur Miller in 1964 and they settled in New York and Connecticut. Most of the photographs in the Quick Center’s exhibition were taken by Morath in the small Connecticut town where they raised a family in the 1960s and 1970s.

Some of Morath’s greatest achievements are in portraiture, including celebrities and anonymous people. She continued to travel and publish photographic essays until her death in 2002 at the age of 79. She was considered a visual anthropologist and documented subjects ranging from politics and religion to work and business.

Morath devoted much of her energy to encouraging women photographers. The Inge Morath Foundation, established in 2003 to facilitate the study and appreciation of Morath’s contribution to photography, annually presents the Inge Morath Award to a female documentary photographer or photojournalist under the age of 30.

The Quick Center is open to the public at no charge. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.