Inge Morath — A Portfolio of Photographs, 1975 — Complete 15 Signed Gelatin Silver Prints — No. 20/50

$12,500

MORATH, INGE (1923–2002). A Portfolio of Photographs by Inge Morath. New York: Neikrug Portfolios, 1975. Number 20 from an edition of only 50 copies.

The complete portfolio of 15 original gelatin silver photographs, each individually signed “Inge Morath” in ink on the margin, accompanied by the colophon, text, table of contents, original mats, and publisher’s cloth-covered portfolio case.

Issued during Morath’s lifetime in an edition of just fifty, the portfolio presents a remarkably concentrated survey of one of the most important photographers associated with Magnum Photos. Morath became the first woman admitted as a full member of Magnum Photos, and her work combined the intimacy of portraiture with the perceptiveness of documentary photography.

The fifteen photographs range across Morath’s extraordinary international career and include portraits of some of the defining cultural and political figures of the twentieth century: Pablo Picasso, Saul Steinberg, Alexander Calder, Eleanor Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson, as well as Picasso’s sister Lola Ruiz de Vilato. Other photographs take the viewer through London, Vienna, Madrid, Castile, Moscow, Connecticut, and Leo Tolstoy’s home at Yasnaya Polyana.

Particularly notable are several of Morath’s most recognized subjects, including Mrs. Eveleigh Nash at Buckingham Palace Mall, her celebrated portrait of Saul Steinberg, Pablo Picasso before his UNESCO mural, and Alexander Calder. Together, the fifteen prints offer an unusually broad representation of Morath’s gifts as portraitist, traveler, and observer of cultural life.

Unlike later estate prints, these are lifetime photographs issued under Morath’s supervision and personally signed by the photographer, with the integrity of the original portfolio preserved.

Contents

1. Mrs. Eveleigh Nash, Buckingham Palace Mall, London

2. Saul Steinberg

3. Pablo Picasso: “Voilà!” UNESCO Mural

4. Lola Ruiz de Vilato, Picasso’s Sister

5. Eleanor Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson, 1961

6. Baroque Staircase, Ministry of Finance, Vienna

7. Salon, House of Lev Kassil, Moscow

8. Doña Mercedes Formica de Llosent y Marañon, Madrid

9. The Bridesmaid, Navalcan, Castille

10. Village Conversation, Castille

11. Leo Tolstoy’s Bedroom, Yasnaya Polyana

12. Country Interior, Woodbury, Connecticut

13. Alexander Calder, 1964

14. Old Silos, New Milford, Connecticut

15. Sleigh Horses, Moscow Countryside

Edition: 20/50
Medium: Gelatin silver prints
Sheets: approximately 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm.), or reverse
Portfolio: approximately 22 × 17¼ × 1½ in. (55.9 × 43.8 × 3.8 cm.)
Publisher: Neikrug Portfolios, New York, 1975
Signatures: Each of the fifteen photographs signed by Inge Morath in ink on the margin
Presentation: Complete with original mats, colophon, text, table of contents, and cloth-covered portfolio box

A scarce and exceptionally complete lifetime portfolio by one of the pioneering women of twentieth-century photography, bringing together fifteen individually signed photographs in an edition of only fifty.