WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC presented the premiere New York exhibition of photographs from the Sayn-Wittgenstein Collection. Sixty photographs by Princess Marianne Sayn-Wittgenstein of Austria were on exhibit, representing the memorable private images of aristocracy, politicians, actors, artists, sports figures, and the cultural zeitgeist.
At eighty seven years old, Princess Marianne has captured decades of European history. As a pillar of Salzburg society, Marianne has intertwined her own personal history with that of the many renowned artists, musicians, and heads of state. Her social position gave her access to create an enigmatic visual history of Europe before and after the devastation of WWII. Images of her five children and many relations appear side by side with those documenting such varied scenes as high society hunt parties to car crashes by the side of the road. Never leaving her camera behind, Marianne has created a diverse and widely encompassing documentation of the unpredictable, effervescent world in which she traveled.
The eldest child of Baron and Baroness Mayr-Melnhof, Princess Marianne Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was born in 1919 in Salzburg, Austria. She attended Blocherer art school in Munich and later embarked on a career as a professional photographer. In 1942 Marianne marries Prince Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. Years after the death of her husband in 1962, friends such as Lilli Palmer and Karl Lagerfeld encouraged the Princess to offer her photographs for publication. Since that time her work has been professionally published and exhibited throughout Europe. Over 150,000 photographs by Princess Marianne now comprise an archive entitled 'The Sayn-Wittgenstein Collection'.