Marion palfi biography

Marion Palfi (1907–1978) was a German-American social-documentary photographer born in Berlin.
Marion Palfi was born in Berlin in 1907 to a Hungarian father and a Polish mother.
Palfi studied photography and in 1934 Palfi opened her own portrait studio in Berlin.

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Spartacus Educational

Marion Palfi was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1907. Her father, was Victor Palfi, an important German theatre director and as a young woman appeared in several films.

Palfi studied photography and in 1934 Palfi opened her own portrait studio in Berlin. She also worked as a freelance photographer for various German magazines, but as a result of the German government's racial policies she moved to Amsterdam.

In 1940 Palfi arrived in the United States where she continued her work as a photographer. A member of the Photo League, Palfi was awarded the Rosenwald Fellowship in 1946. She used this money to travel throughout the United States photographing examples of racial discrimination. Her photo essay on Jim Crow laws and lynching, There is No More Time, was published in 1949.

The Photo League was investigated by the House of Un-American Activities Committee during the late 1940s. This led to members being blacklisted and Palfi, fearing that she would lose her US citizenship, left the organization.

Palfi's book on child neglect and juvenile delinq

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Marion Palfi

Marion Palfi, In the Shadow of the Capitol, Washington, D.C.1946-1948, ca. 1946. Marion Palfi Archive/Gift of the Menninger Foundation and Martin Magner.
©1998 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents. 83.103.128

Social documentary photographer Marion Palfi (1907–1978) sought equity, opportunity, and justice for all people, using her camera as a tool for that end. Farm Security Administration projects and the Photo League inspired her initial efforts toward reform, but for Palfi, the desire for social change was a lifelong pursuit.

Marion Palfi was born in Berlin in 1907 to a Hungarian father and a Polish mother. Her father, Victor Palfi, came from an aristocratic family and became an important producer-director in the German theater. Her parents provided her with an upper middle class life that included private schooling in both Berlin and Hamburg, where she learned English. She began studying dance at thirteen and eventually followed her father into a career on the stage. A lucrative modeling career and debut performances in film ensued.

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Palfi, Marion (1907–1978)

German-born photographer who specialized in portraits and social documentary. Name variations: Marion Magner. Born in Berlin, Germany, on October 21, 1907; died in Los Angeles, California, in November 1978; daughter of Victor Palfi (a theater producer); married Erich Abraham, in mid-1930s (divorced); married Benjamin Weiss, in 1940 (divorced 1944); married Martin Magner (a Danish-born producer-director), in 1955.

Born in 1907 in Berlin, Germany, to Hungarian parents, photographer Marion Palfi was the daughter of Victor Palfi, a theater producer of note. She acted in several German films before taking up the study of photography in 1932. From 1934 to 1936, she operated her own portrait studio in Berlin, during which time she also freelanced for industry and magazines. In 1936, she moved her operation to Amsterdam, a change of locale that may have been prompted by the failure of her marriage to Erich Abraham.

Palfi's second marriage was to American Benjamin Weiss, with whom she came to New York in 1940. Following a divorce from Weiss in 1944, she re