Destination: Iran
Book: Inge Morath: Iran Additional text by Monika Faber and Azar Nafisi and edited by John P. Jacob. Review copy provided by the publisher, Steidl, Germany.
Traveling alone, Inge Morath (who later would marry Arthur Miller and collaborate on various projects) toured Iran and took photographs for various clients in the United States. She died in 2002, and the Inge Morath Foundation has assembled photographs and records of this trip taken in 1956 for [amazon_link id=”3865216978″ target=”_blank” ]IRAN[/amazon_link].
Monika Faber, from the Albertina Museum in Vienna, who explains Morath’s techniques in a text, quotes Morath.
I always preferred territories: Iran in the Middle East…Spain and Mexico, Russia and China, countries whose influence extended beyond their borders, ‘mother cultures,’ she wrote.,[…]Most of the time it was literature that raised my enthusiasm for a certain place, visual and popular art that stimulated my eye…”
Ah, yes, that sounds familiar doesn’t it? “Literature than raised my enthusiasm for a certain place”?
The reader is not only treated to a beautiful presentation of the black and white photos of an Iran that does not exist any more, but details such as her letters of assignment and minutiae of the journey that make it easier to understand the circumstances of her travel.
It is difficult to convey the fascination of these photos–a marketplace in a village of sand-blown mud huts, a Zorastrian ceremony inside a home, ordinary people in traditional costumes posing unselfconsciously for the camera. You can look at these photographs for sheer enjoyment, for a history lesson, or if you love photography, as a lesson in technique. You don’t have to be traveling to Iran to enjoy poring over these 320 images.
An interview with Azar Nafisi, author of [amazon_link id=”0812979303″ target=”_blank” ]Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”B004JZWMZ8″ target=”_blank” ]Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories[/amazon_link], relates the historical Iran with today’s realities. This afterword and the one by Monika Faber, make this book more satisfying to me–because I like a story–than books with ONLY photographs in them.
The photos shown here are copyright by the Inge Morath Foundation. DO NOT COPY. Shown by courtesy of Magnum Photos.
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We have a book of photographs of Russia by Inge Morath. You made me want to explore her book on Iran. We have enjoyed movies about Iran because it provides a window into a country and culture that are so different from ours.
.-= Alexandra hopes you will read blog ..P-town Invites President Obama to Celebratation =-.
What a fabulous book- your review really makes me want to purchase this gem.
It makes me sad to think of art, architecture and entire cultures that don’t exist any more. Your review just brought to mind those giant Buddhas in Afghanistan that the Taliban dynamited.
.-= Jennifer hopes you will read blog ..Travel to SE Utah Beyond Monument Valley =-.
Recently read Nicolas Bouvier’s The Way of the World describing this part of the world, including a portrait of village life, in about the same time period. Thought to share. -r
Sounds awesome. I’d read it for sure. Especially if there are many photos.