Vivian Maier
Encyclopedia
Vivian Maier was an American amateur street photographer
who was born in New York but grew up in France, and after returning to the U.S., worked for about forty years as a nanny in Chicago. During those years she took about 100,000 photographs, primarily of people and cityscapes most often in Chicago, although she traveled and photographed worldwide.
Her photographs remained unknown and mostly undeveloped until they were discovered by a local historian, John Maloof, in 2007. Following Maier's death her work began to receive critical acclaim. Her photographs have been exhibited in the US, England, Germany, Denmark, and Norway, and have appeared in newspapers and magazines in the US, England, Germany, Italy, France and other countries. A book of her photography titled Vivian Maier: Street Photographer was published in 2011.
.
In 1951, at 25 years old, Vivian Maier moved from France to New York, where she worked for some time in a sweatshop
. She made her way to the Chicago area
's North Shore
in 1956 and became a nanny on and off for about 40 years, staying with one family for 14 of them. She was, in the accounts of the families for whom she worked, very private, spending her days off walking the streets of Chicago and taking photographs, most often with a Rolleiflex
camera.
John Maloof, curator of Maier's collection of photographs, summarizes the way the children she nannied would later describe her:
Between 1959 and 1960, Maier traveled to Los Angeles, Manila, Bangkok, Beijing, Egypt, Italy, and the American Southwest, taking pictures in each location. The trip was probably financed by the sale of a family farm in Alsace. For a brief period in the 1970s, Maier worked as a nanny for Phil Donahue
's children. As she got older, she collected more boxes of belongings, bringing them with her to each new post. At one employer's house she stored 200 boxes of materials. Most were photographs or negatives, but Maier collected other objects, such as newspapers, and sometimes recorded audiotapes of conversations she had with the people she photographed.
Towards the end of her life, Maier may have been homeless for some time. She lived on Social Security and may have had another source of income, but the children she had taken care of in the early 1950s bought her an apartment and paid her bills. In 2008, she slipped on ice and hit her head. She did not fully recover and died in 2009 at the age of 83.
characterizes her photographs thus:
Maier's photographic legacy, in the form of some 100,000 negatives – a large portion in the form of undeveloped rolls – was discovered by 26-year-old real estate agent John Maloof, also president of the Jefferson Park Historical Society in Chicago. While working on a book about the Chicago neighborhood of Portage Park
, Maloof bought 30,000 prints and negatives from an auction house that had acquired the photographs from a storage locker that had been sold off when Maier was no longer able to pay her fees. After purchasing the first collection of Maier photographs in 2007, Maloof acquired more from another buyer at the same auction. John Maloof who runs the Maloof Collection owns 100,000 to 150,000 negatives, over 3,000 vintage prints, hundreds of rolls of film, home movies, audio tape interviews, original cameras of Vivian Maier, documents and various other items, representing roughly 90 percent of Vivian's work. Maloof discovered Maier's name at an early stage of his discovery, but was unable to find out more about her until just after her death, when he found an obituary notice in the Chicago Tribune
. Her work was first published on the internet in July 2008, by Ron Slattery who had also purchased some of her work at the auction. In the spring of 2010, Chicago art collector Jeffrey Goldstein acquired a portion of the Vivian Maier collection from one of the original buyers. Since Goldstein's original purchase, his collection has grown to include 15,000 negatives, 1,000 prints, 30 homemade movies, and numerous slides. His collection is known as Vivian Maier Prints Inc. In 2009, Maloof started to post some of Maier's photographs on a blog, and later he announced his intention to publish a photo book of Maier's photography. The book Vivian Maier: Street Photographer was published in November 2011, and a feature-length documentary film about Maier and Maloof's discovery of her work, titled Finding Vivian Maier, is scheduled for release in 2012.
Maier's photographs, and the way they were discovered, received international attention in mainstream media.
Street photography
Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and other settings....
who was born in New York but grew up in France, and after returning to the U.S., worked for about forty years as a nanny in Chicago. During those years she took about 100,000 photographs, primarily of people and cityscapes most often in Chicago, although she traveled and photographed worldwide.
Her photographs remained unknown and mostly undeveloped until they were discovered by a local historian, John Maloof, in 2007. Following Maier's death her work began to receive critical acclaim. Her photographs have been exhibited in the US, England, Germany, Denmark, and Norway, and have appeared in newspapers and magazines in the US, England, Germany, Italy, France and other countries. A book of her photography titled Vivian Maier: Street Photographer was published in 2011.
Personal life
Many of the details of Maier's life are still being uncovered. Initial impressions about her life indicated that she was born in France, but further searching revealed that she was born in New York, the daughter of Maria Jaussaud, who was French, and Charles Maier, who was Austrian. Vivian moved between the U.S. and France several times during her childhood, although where in France she lived is unknown. Her father seems to have left the family for unknown reasons by 1930. During the census that year, the head of the household was listed as award-winning portrait photographer Jeanne Bertrand, who knew the founder of the Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
.
In 1951, at 25 years old, Vivian Maier moved from France to New York, where she worked for some time in a sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
. She made her way to the Chicago area
Chicagoland
The Chicago metropolitan area, or Chicagoland as it is commonly called within the area, is the metropolitan area associated with the city of Chicago, Illinois and its suburbs. It is the area that is closely linked to the city through social, economic, and cultural ties...
's North Shore
North Shore (Chicago)
The North Shore is a term that refers to the generally affluent suburbs north of Chicago, Illinois bordering the shore of Lake Michigan.- History :Europeans settled the area sparsely after an 1833 treaty with local Native Americans...
in 1956 and became a nanny on and off for about 40 years, staying with one family for 14 of them. She was, in the accounts of the families for whom she worked, very private, spending her days off walking the streets of Chicago and taking photographs, most often with a Rolleiflex
Rolleiflex
Rolleiflex is the name of a long-running and diverse line of high-end cameras originally made by the German company Franke & Heidecke, and later Rollei-Werk. The "Rolleiflex" name is most commonly used to refer to Rollei's premier line of medium format twin lens reflex cameras...
camera.
John Maloof, curator of Maier's collection of photographs, summarizes the way the children she nannied would later describe her:
Between 1959 and 1960, Maier traveled to Los Angeles, Manila, Bangkok, Beijing, Egypt, Italy, and the American Southwest, taking pictures in each location. The trip was probably financed by the sale of a family farm in Alsace. For a brief period in the 1970s, Maier worked as a nanny for Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue
Phillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
's children. As she got older, she collected more boxes of belongings, bringing them with her to each new post. At one employer's house she stored 200 boxes of materials. Most were photographs or negatives, but Maier collected other objects, such as newspapers, and sometimes recorded audiotapes of conversations she had with the people she photographed.
Towards the end of her life, Maier may have been homeless for some time. She lived on Social Security and may have had another source of income, but the children she had taken care of in the early 1950s bought her an apartment and paid her bills. In 2008, she slipped on ice and hit her head. She did not fully recover and died in 2009 at the age of 83.
Photography
Maier's images depict street scenes in Chicago and New York in the 1950s and 1960s. An article in The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
characterizes her photographs thus:
Maier's photographic legacy, in the form of some 100,000 negatives – a large portion in the form of undeveloped rolls – was discovered by 26-year-old real estate agent John Maloof, also president of the Jefferson Park Historical Society in Chicago. While working on a book about the Chicago neighborhood of Portage Park
Portage Park, Chicago
Portage Park is located on the northwest side of the City of Chicago, Illinois and is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Portage Park is bordered by the community areas of Jefferson Park and Forest Glen to the north, Dunning and the suburb of Harwood Heights to the west,...
, Maloof bought 30,000 prints and negatives from an auction house that had acquired the photographs from a storage locker that had been sold off when Maier was no longer able to pay her fees. After purchasing the first collection of Maier photographs in 2007, Maloof acquired more from another buyer at the same auction. John Maloof who runs the Maloof Collection owns 100,000 to 150,000 negatives, over 3,000 vintage prints, hundreds of rolls of film, home movies, audio tape interviews, original cameras of Vivian Maier, documents and various other items, representing roughly 90 percent of Vivian's work. Maloof discovered Maier's name at an early stage of his discovery, but was unable to find out more about her until just after her death, when he found an obituary notice in the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. Her work was first published on the internet in July 2008, by Ron Slattery who had also purchased some of her work at the auction. In the spring of 2010, Chicago art collector Jeffrey Goldstein acquired a portion of the Vivian Maier collection from one of the original buyers. Since Goldstein's original purchase, his collection has grown to include 15,000 negatives, 1,000 prints, 30 homemade movies, and numerous slides. His collection is known as Vivian Maier Prints Inc. In 2009, Maloof started to post some of Maier's photographs on a blog, and later he announced his intention to publish a photo book of Maier's photography. The book Vivian Maier: Street Photographer was published in November 2011, and a feature-length documentary film about Maier and Maloof's discovery of her work, titled Finding Vivian Maier, is scheduled for release in 2012.
Maier's photographs, and the way they were discovered, received international attention in mainstream media.
Exhibitions
- Finding Vivian Maier, November 18 - December 4, 2010 at The Apartment 02:, Oslo, Norway
- March 15 - April 30, 2010 at Bruun's Galleri, Århus, Denmark
- Finding Vivian Maier: Chicago Street Photographer, January 7 - April 3, 2011 at Chicago Cultural CenterChicago Cultural CenterThe Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. It is located in the Loop, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park...
- Twinkle, twinkle, little star..., January 27 - April 28, 2011 at Galerie Hilaneh von Kories, Hamburg, Germany
- Vivian Maier, Photographer, April 15 - June 18, 2011 at Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Vivian Maier - A Life Uncovered, July 1 - July 24, 2011 at the London Street Photography Festival, London, Great Britain
- Vivian Maier, Photographer, July 18, 2011 - January 28, 2012 at Hearst Gallery, New York, New York USA
- Vivian Maier - A Life Uncovered, July 29 - September 16, 2011 at Photofusion Gallery, London, Great Britain
- Vivian Maier, Photographer, September 22 - November 12, 2011 at Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, California USA
- December 15, 2011 - February, 2012 at Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, New York USA
- December 15, 2011 - January 28, 2012 at Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, USA
- Vivian Maier - Hosted by Tim Roth, December 17, 2011 - January 28, 2012 at Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
External links
- www.VivianMaier.com, The official website of photographer Vivian Maier. Showcasing photography portfolios, information about exhibitions, print sales, the book and documentary film. This site is run by the Maloof Collection.
- Vivian Maier Prints Inc. website showcasing Maier's images from the Jeffrey Goldstein collection. Also showcasing photography portfolios, exhibition information and gallery representation in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles.
- Vivian Maier, Street Photographer article on Vivian Maier at The Discerning Photographer
- Howard Greenberg Gallery, The Howard Greenberg Gallery handles all Vivian Maier print sales for the Maloof Collection.
- Russell Bowman Art Advisory website representing Maier's images from her first private gallery exhibition in Chicago
- Vivian Maier Facebook Page, The official Facebook page of photographer Vivian Maier. Run by the Maloof Collection.