Sylvia Guirey ( Princess Sylvia Obolensky; 18 May 1931 – 27 June 1997) was an heiress, artist and art patron.

Early life

Guirey was born on 18 May 1931 in

Vöcklabruck Vöcklabruck () is the administrative center of the Vöcklabruck District, Vöcklabruck district, Austria. It is located in the western part of Upper Austria, close to the A1 Autobahn as well as the B1 highway. Vöcklabruck's name derives from th ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Her mother was

Ava Alice Muriel Astor Ava Alice Muriel Astor (July 7, 1902 – July 19, 1956) was an American heiress, socialite, and member of the Astor family. She was the daughter of John Jacob Astor IV and Ava Lowle Willing, and sister of Vincent Astor and half-sister of John Ja ...

and her father was

Raimund von Hofmannsthal Raimund von Hofmannsthal (26 May 1906 – 20 March 1974) was an Austrian-born author and representative of an American newsreel firm in London. Early life Hofmannsthal was born 26 May 1906 in Austria, into the ennobled Hofmannsthal, Hofmannstha ...

. Her parents would marry quietly in January 1933 after her mother divorced in 1932, but at the time of her birth her mother was in Austria and still married to Prince

Serge Obolensky Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky Neledinsky-Meletzky (November 3, 1890 – September 29, 1978), known as Serge Obolensky, was a Russian-born aristocrat then American citizen, U.S. Army colonel, socialite and publicist. He served as vice chair ...

, a former

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

officer. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, her mother was in London and she was in New York. She did not see her mother until 1946. She had been educated at home and then went onto the

Brearley School The Brearley School is an American all-girls private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It educates approximately 770 girls in grades K–12, with approximately 50 to 65 students per grade. In addition to being a member ...

Career

In the 1950s, she was working with

Eugene Berman Eugène Berman (; 4 November 1899, Saint Petersburg, Russia – 14 December 1972, Rome) and his brother Leonid Berman (1896 – 1976) were Russian Neo-romantic painters and theater and opera designers. Early years Born in Russia, the Bermans st ...

as she had become interested in stage design. She worked in with Berman on the new production for the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

. In 1958, her grandmother died and left her a substantial sum that enabled her to take an interest in contemporary art. She began to buy pop-art pieces and at the same time her home at Elm Place became popular with artists and dealers. She also took a studio on her own account and created enough paintings to start exhibiting. Her work was at the Sao Paolo Biennale in 1973, and three years later she was in the

Betty Parsons Gallery Betty Parsons (born Betty Bierne Pierson, January 31, 1900 – July 23, 1982) was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic f ...

. She continued to exhibit in the US and the UK at the Hester van Royen Gallery and the Benjamin Rhodes Gallery.

Personal life

On 1 November 1950, she married Belgian financier Jean Louis Ganshof van der Meersch at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York. In 1957, her husband obtained a divorce based on their separation and her friendship with Prince Guirey. She married again to Prince Azamat Kadir Sultan Guirey (1924–2001), a son of Vaguide Sheretlock Guirey and Prince Kadir Guirey, a descendant of the Tatar khans who ruled

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

before the Czars, in 1957. They moved to London and, before their divorce in 1963, they had three children together: * Prince Kadir Guirey. * Prince Sagat Adil Temujin Guirey, who married Marina Sarah Peto, daughter of Sir Michael Peto, 4th Baronet, in 2001. * Princess Selima Sultane Guirey, who married Derek Goddard, a musician who worked with

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

The Raincoats The Raincoats are a British post-punk band formed in 1977. They were founded by Ana da Silva (vocals, guitar) and Gina Birch (vocals, bass) while the two were students at Hornsey College of Art in London. Other prominent members have included ...

, and

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

. Prince Azamat later married Frederica Ann "Bobo" Sigrist, daughter of Fred Sigrist (a Nassau born heiress who was previously married to

Kevin McClory Kevin O'Donovan McClory (8 June 1924 – 20 November 2006) was an Irish screenwriter, film producer, and film director. McClory was best known for producing the James Bond film '' Thunderball'' and for his legal battles with the character's cre ...

, who directed several

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

films) Guirey died in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

in England in 1997. Prince Azamat died in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guirey, Sylvia 1931 births 1997 deaths Astor family American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American women painters Jewish American artists Jewish art collectors Women art collectors Brearley School alumni Princesses by marriage Obolensky family