Photographer Inge Morath was born in Graz, Austria, in 1923. After working as a translator, journalist, and photo editor, she began taking photographs in 1951, and in 1955, she was invited to join the photographic cooperative Magnum Photos. In the years that followed, Morath worked around the world photographing stories for magazines such as Vogue, Holiday, and Paris Match. Her output also included production stills for motion pictures and the theater, as well as an iconic series of portraits of subjects ranging from Louise Bourgeois to Philip Roth, who called her “the most engaging, sprightly, seemingly harmless voyeur I know.” Morath ultimately published more than 30 monographs of her work. After her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller—who she met working as a set photographer on The Misfits—in 1962, Morath settled in New York and Connecticut and continued working until her death from cancer in 2002. She is the subject of Copyright by Inge Morath, a 1998 documentary by Sabine Eckhard.

Director of the Inge Morath Foundation in New York City, John Jacob also serves as director of the Magnum Foundation Legacy Program. From 1992 to 2000, Jacob directed the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University. His books include Inge Morath: First Color (2009); Man Ray: Trees + Flowers - Insects Animals (2009); and Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection (all published by Steidl). Jacob is the recipient of the 2012 Shpilman Photography Prize.