Marilyn Rita Silverstone (9 March 1929 – 28 September 1999) was an English photojournalist and ordained

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

nun.Martin, Douglas
"Marilyn Silverstone, 70, Dies; Photographer and Buddhist Nun"
''New York Times'', October 4, 1999.

Youth

The eldest daughter of Murray and Dorothy Silverstone was born in London. Her father, the son of Polish immigrants to America, rose to become managing director, and president, international, respectively, of

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

and

20th-Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

,Khan, Naseem
"Obituary: Marion Silverstone"
''The Independent'' (London). October 6, 1999. working with Charlie Chaplin and other early film stars in London. The family returned to America just before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in Europe.Hillelson, John
"Marilyn Silverstone: She abandoned the glamour of photojournalism to become a Buddhist nun in Nepal"
''The Guardian'', October 2, 1999. Silverstone grew up in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

. After graduating from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficia ...

, she became an associate editor for ''

Art News ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countr ...

'', '' Industrial Design'' and ''

Interiors ''Interiors'' is a 1978 American drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E. G. Marshall, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton, and Sam Waterston. Allen's first f ...

'' in the early 1950s. She moved to Italy to make documentary art films.

Photojournalist

Silverstone became a working photojournalist in 1955, traveling and capturing the range of images that her vision led her to find in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In 1956, she travelled to India on assignment to photograph

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North In ...

. She returned to the subcontinent in 1959; what was intended to be a short trip became the beginning of a fascination with India which lasted for the rest of her life. Her photographs of the arrival in India of the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

, who was escaping from the Chinese invasion of Tibet, made the lead in ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

''. In that period, she met and fell in love with the journalist

Frank Moraes Francis Robert Moraes (12 November 1907 – 2 May 1974) was editor of many prominent newspapers in post-Independence India, including ''The Times of India'' and ''The Indian Express''. Early life and education Born in Bombay (now Mumbai) of G ...

. Moraes was then editor of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Limited, Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, ...

''. The couple lived together in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

until 1973, socializing with politicians, journalists and intellectuals, and diplomats. A number of Moraes' editorials had earned the ire of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the situation deteriorated to the point that a retreat to London became the best course. Over the years, Silverstone's reputation as a photographer grew. In 1967, she joined

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Maria Eis ...

, in which she was only one of five women members. Silverstone's work for Magnum included photographing subjects ranging from

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...

to the coronation of the

Shah of Iran This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of the ...

. At the time of Silverstone's death, preparation of an exhibition at the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

featuring her work and that of other Magnum photographers was nearing completion. the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

hosted a seminar in conjunction with this exhibition, and as Silverstone had just recently died, the seminar became an opportunity for her peers to celebrate her life and career.

Buddhist nun

Silverstone's conversion to Buddhist nun was said to have begun when she was an teenager suffering from the mumps. She later explained that during this conventional childhood illness, she read ''Secret Tibet'' by

Fosco Maraini Fosco Maraini (; 15 November 1912 – 8 June 2004) was an Italian photographer, anthropologist, ethnologist, writer, mountaineer and academic. Biography He was born in Florence from the Italian sculptor Antonio Maraini (1886–1963) and Cornel ...

and she said the book provided a key she long carried in her subconscious. In the late 1960s, Silverstone had worked on a photography assignment about a Tibetan Buddhist lama in Sikkim named Khanpo Rinpoche and, when the lama came to London for medical treatment in the 1970s, Rinpoche stayed with the couple. At this point, Silverstone decided to learn Tibetan in order to study Buddhism with him. After Moraes's death in 1974, Silverstone decided to join the entourage of another celebrated lama,

Khentse Rinpoche Tashi Paljor, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche () (c. 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 198 ...

, who left London for a remote monastery in Nepal. In 1977, she took vows as a Buddhist nun. Her Buddhist name was Bhikshuni Ngawang Chödrön, or Ani Marilyn to her close friends. In her new life in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Nepal, Province , subdivision_name1 ...

, she researched the vanishing customs of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

and the Himalayan kingdoms. In 1999, Ngawang Chödrön returned to the United States for cancer treatment and she learned that she was terminally ill. She was clear that she wanted to die in Nepal, her home for the past 25 years. However, no airline would carry a passenger in her fragile condition. She resolved the impasse by persuading a doctor on vacation to accompany her on the return to Kathmandu. The journey was fraught with difficulties. She was barely conscious during the trip and a stopover was necessary in Vienna. She died in 1999 in a Buddhist monastery near Katmandu where she had worked to establish and maintain.

Selected works

Books by Silverstone

* ''Gurkhas And Ghosts: The Story Of A Boy In Nepal''. London:

Methuen Publishing Methuen Publishing Ltd is an English publishing house. It was founded in 1889 by Sir Algernon Methuen (1856–1924) and began publishing in London in 1892. Initially Methuen mainly published non-fiction academic works, eventually diversifying to ...

, 1964. eprinted by Criterion Books, New York, 1970. .* ''Bala: Child of India''. New York: Hastings House, 1968. . * ''Ocean of Life: Visions of India and the Himalayan Kingdoms''. New York:

Aperture Foundation Aperture Foundation is a nonprofit arts institution, founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their vision was to create a foru ...

, 1985. .

Books with contributions by Silverstone

* Miller, Luree. (1987). ''The Black Hat Dances: Two Buddhist Boys in the Himalayas'' (photography by Marilyn Silverstone). New York:

Dodd, Mead and Company Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. History Origins In 1839, Moses Woodruff Dodd (1813–1899) and John S. T ...

. (cloth)

Notes

References

* Hillelson, John
"Obituary: Marilyn Silverstone: She abandoned the glamour of photo-journalism to become a Buddhist nun in Nepal"
''The Guardian'', October 2, 1999. * Harrod, Horatia
"Magnum: snapshots of history"
''The Daily Telegraph'' (London), October 28, 2007. * Khan, Naseem
"Obituary: Marion Silverstone"
''The Independent'' (London), October 6, 1999. * Martin, Douglas

''New York Times'', October 4, 1999. * Martin, Russell. (1999). ttps://books.google.com/books?id=sc51OU4DLeAC&dq=Marilyn+Silverstone&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 ''Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History'' New York: Grove Press. . * Rossellini, Isabella. (1999)
''Magna Brava: Magnum's Women Photographers''
New York: Prestel. .

External links

Silverstone Estate archived photographs, 13 pages of thumbnails
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverstone, Marilyn 20th-century American photographers Magnum photographers Photography in India 1929 births 1999 deaths Wellesley College alumni People from Scarsdale, New York American expatriates in India American expatriates in Italy American expatriates in Nepal American expatriates in the United Kingdom American people of Polish descent American Buddhist nuns 20th-century Buddhist nuns 20th-century American women photographers Women photojournalists