Vivian Maier

[Jay DeFehr]

Amazing story, great work.

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/sear...-paginate=true

[eduardtoader]

a very sensitive eye.. i like the work. thanks for bring it here.

[Jay DeFehr]

I was very impressed.

[Donald Miller]

http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,...niVH2LakYxNa7J

[Jim Galli]

Donald, if you'll do a search you'll find yours is the third thread opened about this remarkable lady. I was just coming on line to comment on Jay's and noticed yours. Not a bad thing, but what's heart breaking is the fact that in the course of 3 threads there has only been 2 comments. Perhaps because she is a Rollei square format user, but that seems too rigid to me, as most of us here are appreciative of excellent photography no matter the format, and this lady was really really excellent.

[Jim Galli]

Jay, was going to comment on her work and thank you for directing us to it last evening but the site was locked down tight.

Thanks for the link. I spent a quality hour or so, and will spend more on this lady's excellent work. Isn't it odd that some of the loneliest souls leave us some of the deepest work. The parallel with Helen Levitt on many levels even beyond the photographs is uncanny.

[Dave Grenet]

I agree with you Jim. A remarkable photographer.

[Jay DeFehr]

Hi Jim,

There does seem to be something in solitude that makes one more sensitive to one's environment, and even to one's self. Vivian Maier's work is so honest and sincere one wonders if it would have been possible had she been recognized while she was doing it. I think that kind of commitment and devotion to one's work is rare, and it's hard to imagine what drove her to it, beyond her personal satisfaction. Imagine the thousands of images she never even saw beyond the ground glass; those hundreds of unprocessed films. It seems clear the creative act was what mattered to her, and not its product. Inspiring! I can't shake the image of her self portrait, with her hat and her Rolleiflex, and her indomitable expression. What a lady!

[sanchi heuser]

Amazing

It's a complete body of work from such a high quality, how can that be
hidden from the world for decades?
She must have known that she is one of the best.
There must have been people knowing that secret.

A big luck that this intelligent youngster fell upon the negatives.

And finally the voice of her...overwhelming.
What a person and what a photographer...

Andi

[Denis Pleic]

Not a bad thing, but what's heart breaking is the fact that in the course of 3 threads there has only been 2 comments.

Jim, I'd venture to say that the reason for lack of comments is the fact that the "Vivian Meier" phenomenon is quite old (in "Internet-time").

I first found out about her more than a year ago, and have been visiting Maloof's blog every now and then for quite some time now, to see what new stuff he has scanned and put online.

She was an Internet sensation for some time, with all kinds of sites and blogs writing about her - but it was a year ago: prehistoric time for an Internet phenomenon

Now, that doesn't mean that she wasn't an excellent photographer.

Judging from her work posted on Maloof's blog, I'd dare say that she belongs to the hall of fame of 20th century photography, right there with HCB, Diane Arbus and others... That's how good she was.

I sincerely hope that we'll be able to purchase a book of her work soon.

It will certainly be interesting to see how the "art world", and in particular the "photo-art world" reacts to her work, and whether she will get some kind of "official" recognition.

As I already said, if you ask me, she deserves to be mentioned and her work shown and mentioned right next to the other mastes of photography of the 20th century: no doubt about it.