Although I consider myself decently talented and also interested in photography, I wouldn’t be able to recite the ten most influential masters of the art by heart, at least when it comes to street photography. Since the discovery of Vivian Maier, I can safely put another name on that list. She is yet to achieve the status of a renowned master, but given that her work is up to 60 years old and has just recently been discovered, featured in exhibitions around the world and a book in a first edition already sold out, she is probably halfway there.
Vivian Maier, born in New York City in 1926, passed away on April 21, 2009, just a little more than a year after her work has been purchased in auctions by at least John Maloof and Jeffrey Goldstein. Both of these gentlemen have since picked up the job of curating and promoting late Maier’s work and rightfully so. Maier was not a professional photographer at the time. On her days off work, she roamed the streets of New York City and later Chicago to take thousands of street photographs, most of them with a medium format dual-lens Rollei. However, the strengths and impact of her work is evident and has been praised by many. In my own personal view, her work is as significant as the street photography of master of the art Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of modern photojournalism. In a way, Vivian Maier and the current attention she draws, feel like a democratization of a genre that in the past was more difficult to access with less proliferation of camera equipment and yet Maier managed to produce excellent results without a formal eduction in photography.
Just like Cartier-Bresson, she has many motives displaying her emotional closeness to the subjects she photographed. While modern street photography legends such as Bruce Gilden have a very confrontational style regarding their subjects, Maier is not intruding, she is observing and sympathizing at the same time. Sometimes she is humoring. And then there are numerous self-portraits – something that sets Maier apart from professional photographers of her time.
If you can, I suggest you buy the recently published book, “Vivian Maier – Street Photographer”. The first print of powerHouse Books seems to be sold out already, if you’re lucky you can still get your copy. The German publisher Schirmer/Mosel also published this title for the German speaking market.
John Maloof is also raising money for a documentary film he is currently producing. You can view his pledge video from kickstarter here:
You can support the project here.
If you can’t get the book, you should still check out the below resources to get you started on Vivian Maier.
http://www.vivianmaier.com/
The official site on Vivian Maier, run by the Maloof Collection.
http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/
John Maloof started this blog early on after he recognized the artistic (and probably economic) worth of Maier’s work. It’s been discontinued but you may find older work there.
http://www.vivianmaier.com/contact/
Be sure to register for the Vivian Maier Newsletter of the Maloof Collection.
http://vivianmaierprints.com/
The (other) official site on Vivian Maier, run by the Jeffrey Goldstein Collection.
http://www.flickr.com
Maloof asks about his discovery on Hardcore Street Photography (HCSP) on Flickr. Browse through the discussion thread to see the initial reaction of Flickr users to this astonishing discovery of photographic art.
http://www.chicagomag.com
Chicago Mag Gallery of Maier’s work, containing 45 images of Chicago street life.
http://www.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia on Vivian Maier.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com
NYT Lens on Vivian Maier, a good read to get started on the subject, also containing a gallery of Maier’s work, nicely presented.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
The Guardian also has a nice article about uncovering Maier’s art.
http://www.bbc.co.uk
Do not forget to take a look at the BBC’s article on the Maier discovery, also including a Video interview with John Maloof.