Vivian Maier Documentary Photographer
Vivian Maier was born in New York City on February 1, 1926. Around the age of 25 or 26, she started taking about 100,000 pictures by the time she died on April 21, 2009, ninety-nine percent of which she never showed to anyone. She worked as a nanny and housekeeper for most of her life, using her spare time to photograph in New York City, Chicago, a village in France, and during an eight-month world tour accompanied by her trusted twin-lens Rolleiflex camera hanging from her neck.
Her work was discovered in a Chicago storage locker two years before she died, but she was unaware of it. It included documentary-style photography, 8mm film, and audio recordings. Before she died on April 21, 2009, in Chicago, her work and other items were sold at auction for non-payment of the monthly fees. John Maloof bought boxes of negatives, more boxes, and undeveloped rolls of film, 8mm and 16mm movie film, from other bidders later. He discovered Vivian Maier's inspired work, bringing her photography to public attention.
There are two documentary films about Vivian Maier.
Oscar Nominated, Finding Vivian Maier, 84 minutes, released in 2013/14 by Sundance Selects, directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel.
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The Vivian Maier Mystery, fifty-three minutes, was released in 2013 by BBC.
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The Vivian Maier Mystery Documentary and Finding Vivian Maier Documentary each offer valuable insights for anyone eager to uncover the story of this talented photographic artist and her journey. At first, Vivian Maier presents herself as a mystery she cultivated intentionally. Both documentaries feature interviews with the grown children and clients she worked for, highlighting how little they knew about her and her secretive nature. She rarely discussed her family or personal life. However, in one of her recorded interviews with a woman about meeting Rudolf Valentino, Vivian speaks more than the interviewees, sharing her encounters with celebrities and her impressions of various places she visited or lived in.
The Finding Vivian Maier documentary is more extended and more in-depth in certain areas than The Vivian Maier Mystery because it has John Maloof's interviews and access to his vast collection of photographs, negatives, and film footage that Vivian Maier shot.
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The Vivian Maier Mystery spends more time looking into Ms. Maier’s time in France and tracing her family. It also interviews collectors other than John Maloof. There is a lot of controversy surrounding Vivian Maier and her estate, which consists only of the copyright ownership of her work. She died with no known relatives except for a couple of second cousins in France. Maloof got a release to publish and print the photographs from one of the cousins.
Another collector, Jeffrey Goldstein, with 17,500 photographs, also believed he had cleared rights until Cook County in Illinois, in charge of Maier’s estate, sent letters stating that no one had clear rights to distribute the work. Cook County was searching for Vivian Maier’s brother, who no one had seen, who disappeared scores of years ago and was presumed dead. Although Maloof had gotten permission from a living relative, he had not cleared it through probate court, so his consent was deemed illegal.
Vivian Maier likely fancied herself an undercover photographer at times, embracing the role and perspective of a photojournalist. She interviewed people with her portable recorder on topical subjects like elections and captured images of celebrities and politicians. All her work takes on a documentary form. Despite her talent, something in her personality kept her from seeking employment as a photographer or a broader audience for her art. Employers, their children, and a few friends described Vivian as opinionated and sometimes argumentative or short-tempered. However, her work reveals her sense of humor and progressive social tendencies.
Darkroom printing of photographs is part of the photographer’s art. The good news is that her composition and framing were specific so that printers could focus on contrast and exposure issues. Aside from all the controversy, Vivian Maier is an influential American photographer and artist. The documentaries and books show her remarkable life and work. The mysterious part is why she didn’t seek some show or outlet for her work. It comes to light in reading the books and looking at the documentaries that she did try to show her work at certain times. For example, she tried negotiating a deal with a printer in France to make postcards from her pictures. Even if she had printed and sold postcards, she would remain anonymous.
Books on Vivian Maier
Several books have been published, including Vivian Maier—Street Photographer, published by Powerhouse Books and edited by John Maloof. Another book by John Maloof? , Vivian Maier – Street Photographer, is an excellent representative collection and introduction to Maier’s work. This book allows you to see through her eyes and get to know her through her work without distractions. Maier has a well-developed sense of composition, contrast, and focus. With the twin-lens reflex camera hanging from her neck, she looked down into the viewfinder and shot from about waist-high most of the time. While she did shoot many self-portraits, she took herself out of the rest of what she shot. Most of the time, the subjects seem unaware of her being there. She photographed everywhere, from rough urban slums to elite suburban settings where she worked. She shot children, groups of people, portraits, street scenes, and events with a journalist’s eye.
Much of her work would have looked at home in the 1950s and 1960s Life Magazine. Vivian Maier envisioned the ironic juxtaposition of people and their environment. For example, a small boy standing on a wood frame looking into a massive box on a city sidewalk or a father holding up his son’s leg to look at his shoe as the boy hangs on to him for balance, looking uncomfortable. She also likes the light, texture, and patterns seen in urban environments. Her portraits show something more profound than the faces of her subjects. Somehow, she captures an intimate moment when someone’s personality pops up for a second. Her work demonstrates sensitivity to the social and cultural aspects of her shoots.
The book Vivian Maier—A Photographer Found includes many photographs and writings about Vivian Maier by Marvin Heiferman, Edited by Howard Greenberg, with a foreword by Laura Lippman. John Maloof is the author. This is a large book with a good choice of black-and-white and some color photographs by Vivian Maier. The forward and article in the book are well-written introductions to Vivian Maier.
Articles
Articles on this subject are at https://www.vivianmaierprints.com/vivian-maier-articles.html.
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