The Road to Reno

This post is written in honor of my new friend lydia, whose hometown is Reno.

Sometimes, things connect.

In March 2007 I blogged here about the Austrian photographer Inge Morath.

One of her teachers was Henri Cartier-Bresson whose exhibit we saw and posted about at the weekend.

Lydia left a comment on that post, stating that she would like to see the photo of Marilyn Monroe in Reno because it was her hometown.

And then it clicked.

There's a book by Inge Morath The Road to Reno.

And that's the story:

In 1960, the photographers Inge Morath and Henri Cartier-Bresson set off on a car trip across America, towards Reno. They had been hired by Magnum, a photographic cooperative to cover the making of the movie "The Misfits" (starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe), written by Arthur Miller and directed by John Huston.

All the way long, she collected impressions - photographs and entries in her diary:

"… these are bits of notes written each night at the table in a motel room that was always in a different place but always looked the same."

There's the book's summary and photos to click through.

In Reno she also met Arthur Miller, whom she married after his divorce from Marilyn Monroe and with whom she spent the rest of her life.

In 2007, Inge Morath's book "The Road to Reno" got the award for the most beautiful German book.

And here's how Arthur Miller recalled that first meeting.