Vivian Maier toiled as a nanny for four decades, including for TV’s
Phil Donahue. Maier shot everyday life in Chicago, New York, and elsewhere in
her spare time, using her medium-format Rolleiflexes to capture ordinary people
and everyday events - often in rough neighborhoods. Her work evoked that of
more celebrated street photographers such as Wegee or Robert Frank.
Maier was a compulsive pack rat. She shot and saved everything. Her prodigious portfolio - a trove of over 120,000 images, 2,700 undeveloped rolls, Super 8 movie footage, and audio recordings - was bought by John Maloof at auction in 2007. Neither Maloof nor anyone else knew much about this obscure, mysterious photographer who, thanks to Maloof's tireless efforts, was then discovered by the larger photography community.
She died in 2012, shortly thereafter becoming a street photography superstar. Better posthumously than never, I suppose. And as it turns out, today is the last day of Photo London’s exhibition celebrating Maier’s considerable legacy.
Her largely black & white work (images below) captured considerable detail, if not grittiness. She portrayed the humanity of casual, everyday life. She was masterful in framing her compositions. She had a knack for venturing close to a stranger’s face and then, just as suddenly, moving on. That approach takes grace combined with no small amount of resolve, which is astonishing given how private a person she appears to have been. And little of what she did in the streets was acceptable for a woman alone in the 1950s and ‘60s or with kids in tow who were the sons and daughters of her wealthy employers.
To learn more about Maier, check out the 2013 documentary Finding Vivian Maier, which was directed by Maloof and Charlie Siskel.
Maier was a compulsive pack rat. She shot and saved everything. Her prodigious portfolio - a trove of over 120,000 images, 2,700 undeveloped rolls, Super 8 movie footage, and audio recordings - was bought by John Maloof at auction in 2007. Neither Maloof nor anyone else knew much about this obscure, mysterious photographer who, thanks to Maloof's tireless efforts, was then discovered by the larger photography community.
She died in 2012, shortly thereafter becoming a street photography superstar. Better posthumously than never, I suppose. And as it turns out, today is the last day of Photo London’s exhibition celebrating Maier’s considerable legacy.
Her largely black & white work (images below) captured considerable detail, if not grittiness. She portrayed the humanity of casual, everyday life. She was masterful in framing her compositions. She had a knack for venturing close to a stranger’s face and then, just as suddenly, moving on. That approach takes grace combined with no small amount of resolve, which is astonishing given how private a person she appears to have been. And little of what she did in the streets was acceptable for a woman alone in the 1950s and ‘60s or with kids in tow who were the sons and daughters of her wealthy employers.
To learn more about Maier, check out the 2013 documentary Finding Vivian Maier, which was directed by Maloof and Charlie Siskel.
Images courtesy of VivianMaier.com.