Three for Lunch. Barcelona, Catalunya, 2010
She is getting a lot of press lately, and for good reason. Her work is exceptional. Her self-portraits unique. Is she the American version of Henri Cartier-Bresson? ( (Well, she did have a French mother!)
Some interesting facts:
–She worked as a nanny for some 40 years and was good with kids.
–One of her former cares called her a sort of “Mary Poppins“.
–She even cared for one of Phil Donahue’s kids for a short time.
–She was a hoarder, leaving behind thousands of undeveloped frames and unprinted negatives.
–She was a very private person, a loner who hauled along up to 200 boxes of “her life” whenever she moved.
–She once spent six months traveling around the world (a literal circumnavigation) alone.
–Her work came to light only because mounds of her accumulated “stuff” was auctioned off to pay debts.
–She died in 2009 at the age of 83, poor and unknown, her death likely hastened by a head injury caused by falling on the ice. Unfortunately, her death came just months before the man who found her work, John Maloof, made her a famous figure.
There is already one book out about her (Vivian Maier, Street Photographer, 2011, edited by John Maloof) and her work and a second is on its way (Vivian Maier: Self-Portraits, 2013, also edited by Maloof). Even the mainstream press has been covering her, so naturally we now have a just-released mainstream movie, “Finding Vivian Maier”.
Here is a short preview of the film to tickle your gizzard:
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