Career
- Chronology:
- 1918
- Born April 8 in New York City
- 1936
- Joined the Photo League
- 1939
- Solo exhibition, The New School; worked on film Native Land with Paul Strand
- 1940
- Staff photographer, PM newspaper
- 1941-45
- U.S. Navy, Chief Photographer's Mate, Combat Photo Unit #8
- 1945-47
- Resumed work as staff photographer on PM
- 1947-51
- Freelance work for magazines: Ladies Home Journal, McCall's, Collier's, Fortune, This Week, and others
- 1951
- Made 35mm motion picture short, The Farm They Won
- 1952
- Co-produced, co-directed, co-writer and photographed Little Fugitive, award-winning feature film
- 1952
- Married Ruth Orkin
- 1955
- Co-produced, co-directed, co-writer and photographed Lovers and Lollipops, award-winning feature film
- 1958
- Produced, directed and photographed Weddings and Babies, award-winning feature film
- 1959
- Son Andy Born
- 1960
- Did CBS television story on Brasilia
- 1961
- Corporate film for Chase Manhattan Bank
- 1961
- Daughter Mary born
- 1961-66
- Directed television commercials, including award-winning Oreos commercial
- 1962
- The Dog Lover, a film starring Jack Guilford
- 1968
- I Need a Ride to California, 35mm color feature film; "Peace Is," short color film
- 1994
- Video feature A Little Bit Pregnant
- 1998
- Video feature Camellia
- 2005
- Dies March 5
- Awards:
- United States Navy Photographic Institute Citation for Exceptionally Meritorious Photography, Awarded Navy Day, October 27, 1945
- For Outstanding Achievement While Serving As A U.S. Navy Combat Photographer and as a member of combat photo unit number eight. For an exceptionally fine series of still photographs of the invasions in Southern France and on the Normandy Beaches, where his indifference to danger and his keen awareness of what scenes were most vital in the action around him, resulted in a contribution of great value to the visual records of the war. His photograph showing enemy dead on the Normandy beach, taken on D-day and in the face of grave danger, is one of the great pictures of the war and reflects the highest credit upon Engel and the U.S. Navy photographic service.
- Signed by Edward Steichen, Captain USNR/Director, Navy Photographic Institute
- Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, Crystal Apple Award, 1988
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Photographic Administrators, 1998
- Pioneer of Independent Cinema Award, 2002
- Solo Exhibitions:
- 1939
- The New School for Social Research,Introduction by Paul Strand
- 1940
- The Photo League, NYC
- 1944
- U.S. Navy exhibit at The Ilford Company,London, England
- 1999
- Photographs Do Not Bend, Dallas
- 1999
- TXHoward Greenberg Gallery, NYC
- 2000
- Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, IL.
- Group Exhibitions:
- 1948
- The Exact Instant, 100 Years of News, Photography, In and Out of Focus, 50 Photographs by 50 Photographers, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
- 1978
- Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League, International Center for Photography
- 1983
- Roy Stryker: U.S.A., 1943-1950,International Center of Photography, NYC
- 1985
- American Images 1945-1980, Barbican Art Gallery, London, England
- 1985
- A Tribute to Lee D. Witkin, The Witkin Gallery, Inc., NYC
- 1986
- Tides of Immigration, Romantic Visions andUrban Realities, Brooklyn College, NYC
- 1987-89
- The Photo League, 1936-1951, organized bySUNY New Paltz, travelled to 10 colleges throughout New York State
- 1993
- On the Elbow, The Witkin Gallery, Inc., NYCThe Photo League, Gallery 292, NYC
- 1995
- An American Century of Photography: From Dry-plate to Digital, The Hallmark Photography Collection, ICP, NYC
- 1998
- The New York School of Photography, 1930s - 1960's, Jan Kesner Gallery, LA, CA
- 1998
- Take the A Train, Howard Greenberg Gallery
- 1998
- Eight Million Stories: Twentieth-Century New York Life in Prints and Photographs, New York Public Library, NYC
- 1999
- Photo League, Fundacion Telefonica, Spain
- PUBLICATIONS:
- U.S. Camera Annual, 1939
- Life Library of Photography, Documentary Photography, Time-Life Books, 1972
- Studio Photography, Morris Engel, Part 1: Stranded, by Casey Allen, August 1997
- Studio Photography, Morris Engel, Part ll: D-Day, by Casey Allen, September 1997
- Studio Photography, Morris Engel, Part III: Makin' Movies, by Casey Allen, October 1997
- Vanity Fair, PM's Impossible Dream, by David Margolick, January 1999
- PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
- Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
- Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
- Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
- George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
- William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, Rockland, ME
- Hallmark Photographic Collection, Kansas City, MO
- International Center of Photography, New York, NY
- LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
- Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
- Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
- New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
- New York Public Library, New York, NY
- Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
- Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
- John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
- Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
- San Antonio Museum Association, San Antonio, TX
- Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
- University of Louisville Photographic Archives, Louisville, KY
- University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
- Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT