Vivian Maier Developed by Ann Marks

A rare venture into non-fiction. Found in the bookstore the same day as the Antietam book. 

One way I look for new books is to wander the displays at Barnes and Noble. A hobby of mine is taking pictures (I’d never have the arrogance to call myself a ‘photographer’). My partner in crime in this blog (West Coast Don) has also been known to pick up a camera. When asked what kids of pictures I favor I say sport, landscape, travel, and street.

Most folks understand the first three. ‘Street’ is an altogether unique form. Some call street photos ‘candid’ because the photographer sort of sneaks in a picture when the subject is unaware or is posed in their natural setting. The first photographer to popularize street photography is the legendary Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004). His book ‘The Decisive Moment’ remains the definitive treatment of the subject. Many others have followed his lessons. Google ‘street photographers’ for dozens of examples.

Found this book on a recent foray into B&N. The ’how’ of street photograph is not the subject of this review. Vivian Maier practiced her craft on the streets of mostly Chicago, LA, and NY. Born in France into a less-than-ideal family. Her upbringing was one of neglect, but somewhere along the way she picked up her first camera focusing mostly on French landscapes. She emigrated to the US as a teenager and for most of her adult life was spent as a professional nanny, sometimes as a live-in nanny. She cared for children from infancy through high school. Some short assignments, others were years in duration.

Soon she gravitated to the classic Rolleiflex viewfinder, the boxy ones with two lenses. You’ve seen them. Her nanny job was perfect. She’d wander all over town with kids in tow or in a stroller or while her charges were in school. She rarely was seen without her camera. She also liked taking self-portraits decades before the concept of a ‘selfie’ became commonplace; see the cover photo.

Now all that is fine. Plenty of people carry cameras. Marks' story is about how Maier's work was discovered. See, Vivian never really pursued her addiction toward being a pro or showing her work in galleries. She just took pics and hung on to them. Stored her work in boxes, made a note in some borders, even to the point of storing the exposed rolls of film but never developing them. Strange indeed. One more thing about Vivian – she was a hoarder. When she died in 2005, she had 7 garage-sized storage units stuffed with her belongings.

Now when the storage unit of a rental customer passes away and there are no heirs to deal with, the contents get auctioned off. People bid on the contents sight unseen, no unpacking. Maybe a box will have a treasure of some value. It’s a crap shoot.

Enter John Maloof. In his mid 20s, he lived in the neighborhood near the rental business and was bidding on junk in his plan to do a history of his neighborhood. Managed to get some boxes containing Vivian’s stuff including hundreds of photos and tons of undeveloped film. He had no idea what he had but decided to hunt down more boxes of her photos. Museums weren’t interested, not much interest from local colleges. Eventually he scanned and posted a whole bunch of photos on Flickr (the eventual full collection of her work that Maloof collected numbered nearly 150,000 photos).

Bingo. The Internet viewers went nuts about who was the photographer, that the photos were a significant artistic find revealing city life circa 1950s-1980s. Didn’t take long for Maloof’s discovery to become a hot topic in photography circles. Interest in Vivian’s work skyrocketed. Showings of her work were held in major cities worldwide. Maloof produced a documentary called Finding Vivian Maier that was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature (2015; see it for free on Plex TV). Numerous books have been written about her work, but to date, this book by Ann Marks is the only traditional biography. Couple sample pics I like:

 

Don’t run out and buy this book to see a compilation of her work; there are plenty of photo books (aka ‘coffee table books’) of her work. Marks assumes the reader in familiar with Maier's work and is interested in Maier as a person. The photo examples presented date back to her youth in France with rare examples of previously unpublished pictures that show how she developed her own style.

While I’m not a big fan of biographies, I did find this a fascinating look into the world of an unknown genius of the art world. If that’s your cup of tea, start your own adventure into the world according to Vivian Maier.

ECD