Vivian Maier, Photographer: More Than Just A Good Story (A Lot More)

The most important thing to know about Vivian Maier is that she was a very good photographer, the equal of virtually anyone shooting on the streets of America in the '50s, '60s, and '70s.  Unfortunately, the story behind the recent discovery of her work is so compelling that it threatens to overwhelm the photos themselves.  (You can read about that discovery, in "The Life and Work of Street Photographer Vivian Maier," in Chicago Magazine.)  It's a great tale, no doubt about it, but the photos are even better.

 

 

Photo:  Vivian Maier.

It's too soon, of course, to fully assess Maier's work.  John Maloof, who stumbled across and then preserved her negatives, has scanned and posted only a fraction of the 100,000 negatives in his possession on the website Vivian Maier:  Her Discovered Work.  But, based on the dozens that I've seen, I'm willing to bet that when it's all said and done we'll think of Maier as one of the most remarkable street photographers of her generation.  In fact, I'm so sure of this that I've put my money where my mouth is.  I'm one of over 300 people who has pledged to back "Finding Vivian Maier", the documentary that Maloof and Anthony Rydzon are making about her.  They talk about this important project in the video below.  (The project's team also includes the award-winning Danish filmmaker, Lars Oxfeldt Mortensen.)

 

 

One of the first things that you'll learn from the video and the Chicago Magazine article is that nobody knows very much about Maier's life -- not Maloof, not the families that employed her as a nanny.  She died virtually alone in 2009, seemingly without close relatives or friends.  She remains a mystery.  As an historian and a photographer, two questions interest me above all others:  Why did a woman whose obvious intelligence leaps out of frame earn her living as a nanny?  How did she develop such a brilliant eye?  (Photographer and blogger Blake Andrews has been thinking along the same lines.)

 

 

Photo:  Vivian Maier.

There's no doubt that Maier was deeply engaged with the visual culture of her time.  Photography was moving away from the humanist traditions of the '30s and '40s and haltingly embracing the less literal and darker visions of, say, Robert Frank, Roy DeCarava, Helen Levitt, and William Klein.  Maier shared this sensibility and must have seen this work.

Afterthought, 8 January 2011:  Frank, DeCarava, Levitt, and Klein are all to the point, but I certainly should have mentioned Harry Callahan.  Throughout the '50s, he was probably the best known and most influential Chicago photographer, exhibiting widely and heading the department of photography at the city's Institute of Design.  It's hard to imagine that Maier would not have seen his work, which was widely published and exhibited.  It's not at all clear that Callahan influenced her vision.  But they were certainly part of the same visual universe.

 

 

Photo:  Vivian Maier.

Like Frank (a Swiss-born Jew) and DeCarava (an African-American), she looked at America through the eyes of someone on the margins.  Was it because she had come of age overseas?  Or did her gender shape her vision?  (Yes, of course it did.  But how?)  Interestinly, it's hard not to see an anticipation of Diane Arbus' work in the photo above.

 

 

Photo:  Vivian Maier.

I'm not the first person to notice that there's something cinematic about many of her photos.  They feel like stills from a film noir.

 

 

Photo:  Vivian Maier.

If Maier's eye links her to Frank, DeCarava (e.g., the photo directly above), and film noir, her sensibility links her to the critique of post-war American culture that could be found in the writing of an Allen Ginsberg or a Richard Wright and in the music of a Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk.  Where did this come from?  What did she look at?  What did she read?  Who did she talk to?

 

 

Photo:  Vivian Maier.

The '50s and '60s also saw the rebirth of feminism as a cultural and political force, in the US and western Europe.  Where and how does Maier -- who remained single by choice -- fit into this dynamic?  Coincidentally, Maier was in France at the time of the publication of Simone de Beauvoir's feminist classic Le Deuxième Sexe [The Second Sex].  The book's appearance was major literary event, one that could not have passed Maier by unnoticed.  (Although she was born in the US, Maier spent much of her adolescence and early adulthood in France, arriving back in the US in 1951, at age 25.)

 

 

Photo:  Vivian Maier.

At the moment, there are far more questions about Maier than there are answers.  Maloof and Rydzon's film will undoubtedly supply some of the answers.  Others will come from those who look deeply into her photos.

* * *

You can see many more of Maier's photographs at John Maloof's blog, Vivian Maier:  Her Discovered Work.  If you're going to be in or near Chicago in early 2011, there's an even better opportunity.  An exhibition of her work, "Finding Vivian Maier:  Chicago Street Photographer," opens at the Chicago Cultural Center on January 7th and runs until March 24th.  (Update, 10 January 2011:  Chicago Tribune photographer Alex Garcia has posted an insightful review of the exhibition on his blog.)

Update, 2 January 2011:  John Maloof, Anthony Rydzon and Lars Mortensen have just announced that "Finding Vivian Maier" has reached its minimum fundraising goal on Kickstarter, which means that it will receive the money that backers have pledged.  It's a terrific accomplishment and a major step toward making the film a reality.  The team wants you to know, however, that they "are still accepting pledges until the clock runs out [in March 2011].  All funds will be put toward the film....  Pledges can also ensure your pre-ordered copy of the book and DVD."

Comments

[duckrabbitblog]

Awesome post ... and WOW those photos ... gulp

[justiceimages]

nice post. stunning photos. she actually reminds me of Henri Cartier-Bresson when he says he's a "anarchist". She seemed to be politically aware of class, race, and gender and had remarkable skills indeed for capturing these moments. It is still early days, as her collection of photographs is only a fraction uncovered, but i suspect the world will succumb to the quality, intrigue and political context of which her photos are undoubtedly rich with. Plus i will ad that it makes me happy that she was indeed a woman.

[John]

@justiceimages

"She seemed to be politically aware of class, race, and gender and had remarkable skills indeed for capturing these moments."

I agree completely. There is a keen intelligence at work in these photos, as well as a deep visual sophistication. I would love to know what she read and, as I mentioned, who she talked to.

It will be wonderful to watch this story play out.

[John]

@duckrabbitblog

"and WOW those photos ... gulp"

No doubt about it. Looking at them keeps me humble.