Photographs by Peter Turnley
PARIS (May 19, 2009) – The French Légion d’Honneur, the country's highest and most prestigious award, has been bestowed upon legendary photography editor John G. Morris, and his award was presented to him during a reception at the Paris office of Magnum Photos on Tuesday evening.
The Légion d’Honneur was conferred on Morris tonight by the great French photojournalist Marc Riboud, who joined Magnum in 1952.
Created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, the Légion d’Honneur is awarded for gallantry in military action or twenty years of distinguished service in military or civilian life for work that enhances the reputaiton of France through scholarship, arts, sciences, and politics. The Légion d’Honneur is awarded in five ranks, and Morris was awarded the rank of Knight for his 69 years of professional service to photojournalism.
Probably best known for being Robert Capa's picture editor on D-Day during World War II for Life magazine, Morris - now 92 - has also been a Hollywood correspondent for Life, the photography editor of The New York Times, the Washington Post, and National Geographic magazine, and he was the executive editor and picture editor for Magnum Photos, where he worked with his long-time friends Henri Cartier-Bresson and David "Chim" Seymour.
Morris is also the author of "Get The Picture: A Personal History Of Photojournalism" (University of Chicago Press, 2002).
