The discovered work of Vivian Maier
Feb/13/11 18:23 Filed in: Art on the
web
Nothing lasts forever - it is all like a wheel...
In mid 2007 a real estate
agent, John Maloof, won a box of older negatives
at an auction house in Chicaco. He was on search
for a book he was about to write about his
neighbourhood in Chicago. What he found however
did not really help him with his book about
Chicagos NW Side, but was nevertheless quite
amazing....
John started scanning a few of the negatives - and
what he saw astonished him so much, that he picked up
photography himself. Not knowing anything about
street photography, he had the negatives of Vivian
Maier teach him photography, ending up purchasing the
same camera she used and diving into the world of
Henri Cartier-Besson, Harry Callahan and Lee
Friedlander.
Maloof started researching her online after finding her name on a photo lab envelope. All he found was the obituary - she passed away a few days before his research. John did over time find more boxes of negatives, enlarging his Vivian Maier collection to several tenthousand negatives as well as a few thousand rolls of undeveloped film. Confused about Vivian Maier not known as a street photographer, John Maloof posted some images on a Flickr Street Photographer Group, which started the trip of his life. He is today asked to exhibit these photographs pretty much around the globe…..
The French born Vivian Maier arrived in New
York as a young girl in the 1930s. After the first
years she eventually found herself as a nanny
Chicago. John Maloof was able to track three siblings
down who Vivian looked after. She has been described
as being a "Marry Poppin" type nanny.
She has never been married and lived her lilfe alone - photographing. Strangely enough she hardly had any of her negatives turned into prints. So, why did show photograph? And, she must have judged all her work by the negatives, since, according to Mahloof there is quite some improvement and change of style to see in her images.
Does excellence in Art always require a
strange, or shall I call it an unusual mind? I guess
so. Normal people tend not to produce art. They go to
museums and look at it. Or to concerts and listen to
it. Isn't it mostly the eccentrics, the obsessed, the
thoughtful people that have enough mind capability to
create powerful art? And - is every good artist
damned to stay alone in life? Maybe not physically
alone, but, well, on a spiritual basis alone? These
are questions to think about…..
But good photography certainly does not require a hell of a lot equipment.... ;)
I want to thank John Mahloff to find this wonderful photography and for sharing it online….. His blog on Vivian Maier has some wonderful resources to follow up to and of course many photographs worthwile spending time over.
Also, some very good news: The book "Vivian Maier: Street Photographer" will be released in Fall of 2011 by powerHouse Books. I am looking forward to it...
Maloof started researching her online after finding her name on a photo lab envelope. All he found was the obituary - she passed away a few days before his research. John did over time find more boxes of negatives, enlarging his Vivian Maier collection to several tenthousand negatives as well as a few thousand rolls of undeveloped film. Confused about Vivian Maier not known as a street photographer, John Maloof posted some images on a Flickr Street Photographer Group, which started the trip of his life. He is today asked to exhibit these photographs pretty much around the globe…..
She has never been married and lived her lilfe alone - photographing. Strangely enough she hardly had any of her negatives turned into prints. So, why did show photograph? And, she must have judged all her work by the negatives, since, according to Mahloof there is quite some improvement and change of style to see in her images.
But good photography certainly does not require a hell of a lot equipment.... ;)
I want to thank John Mahloff to find this wonderful photography and for sharing it online….. His blog on Vivian Maier has some wonderful resources to follow up to and of course many photographs worthwile spending time over.
Also, some very good news: The book "Vivian Maier: Street Photographer" will be released in Fall of 2011 by powerHouse Books. I am looking forward to it...