Enzo Sellerio

Who was Enzo Sellerio?

Enzo Sellerio was an Italian photographer, publisher, and collector.

Born in 1924 in Palermo to an Italian father and a Russian mother, Sellerio studied law and was for some time a lecturer in law at the University of Palermo. He became a full-time photographer in the early 1950s.

In 1962 ZDF invited Sellerio, Hiroshi Hamaya and Will McBride to make a film on the German people; Mit offenen Augen was the result.

After a short period in the mid-1960s freelancing in the United States for Vogue and Fortune magazines, Sellerio moved toward publishing, and in 1969 started Sellerio editore with his wife. Sellerio would take direct charge of the art division of the company, which, as Enzo Sellerio editore, became independent in 1983. Among his publications are books about traditional Sicilian artifacts, many of them from his own collection.

Sellerio's black-and-white photographs depict most fairly public aspects of Sicilian life.

He died in Palermo in 2012, on February 22, aged 88.