Princess Marianne, a descendant of the Empress Maria Theresa (Marie Antoinette’s mom) sure gets around. The subjects of her photographs—some 240 of which, taken between the (glorious) summer of ’38 and 2005 are brought together in this volume—bear names that recall European history from the Crusades through the Third Reich: Habsburg, Alba, Fürstenberg, Metternich, Bismarck Ribbentrop, et al. Then for social swing there’s Dalí, Warhol, Saint Laurent, Jackie O., Vivienne Westwood, Marisa Berenson, Larry Hagman, Iman.
A genius picture from 1954 depicts two of the photographer’s young children: Yvonne swigs Dry Sack from the bottle while Alexander smokes a cigarette. Sayn-Wittgenstein is one artist I’d love to meet.