Vivian Maier

[Jay DeFehr]

Amazing story, great work.

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-06-21T10:12:00-05:00&max-results=50&reverse-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=42,8,80&pid=A1hO97qcWo7ViDL_rWniVH2LakYxNa7J

[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 (http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com), 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.

[D. Bryant]

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

I don't understand why Maloof doesn't offer some prints for sale to help fund the project.

I hope no one takes this the wrong way but I think technically Maloof is in over his head since he has been involved in digital darkroom work for a relatively short period of time, though we all should be thankful of his efforts to save her work. Imagine if these negatives had been thrown into a dumpster.

Hopefully, eventually, the work will past to a large institute to be preserved.

It's a wonderful body of work which I'm enthralled with. I look forward to seeing a book (actually I think several books will be in order).

Don Bryant

[Merg Ross]

This is really terrific work. Does anyone know if the images presented have been cropped? The tightness of the compositions is amazing, and the square format is perfect.

[Richard K.]

Extraordinary work, amazing discovery. Next to epiphany, serendipity is my favorite thing!! :)

I've now found another thing to do on my day in Chicago before training to Flagstaff and DV etc.

[KEK]

show of her work at chicago cultural center starting jan. 7th and it's free.

[KEK]

show of her work at the chicago cultural center starting jan. 7th and it's free

[Jay DeFehr]

I'd love to attend, but I'll be celebrating Russian Christmas in Idaho.

[lenser]

So many of the images remind me of Cartier-Bresson. This lady was a truly an artist with a tremendous eye!

[Thebes]

And some of the images remind me of Arbus as well. Some of them seem iconic and yet remind me of no one. Truly amazing stuff.

[Allen in Montreal]

Thanks for the link,
looks like great work. I wish I could see the Chicago show.

[Daniel Grenier]

Wow, what a amazing find! Stunning work indeed. Right up there with Evans, Atget, and more. This lady could very well become one of the top 3 female photographer of the 20th century.Her work is that good, IMO.

[Richard K.]

Wow, what a amazing find! Stunning work indeed. Right up there with Evans, Atget, and more.

I find her to be a wonderful combination of Diane Arbus (maybe not so much), Elliott Erwitt, and Gary Winogrand (without the tilty perspectives)... anyone else?



This lady could very well become one of the top 3 female photographer of the 20th century.Her work is that good, IMO.

Totally agree!!

[Richard K.]

I wish I could see the Chicago show.

You COULD... if you came with me by train to Death Valley by way of Chicago and Flagstaff...:D

[Richard M. Coda]

Wow!

[Allen in Montreal]

You COULD... if you came with me by train to Death Valley by way of Chicago and Flagstaff...:D

:)

I showed the clip to my daughters and they want to do a road trip. YES!
I love Chicago and have not been in 4 years or so.

if anyone takes this show in during the first few days can you report back if it is worth the trip down? It would be much appreciated.

[Richard K.]

:)

I showed the clip to my daughters and they want to do a road trip. YES!
I love Chicago and have not been in 4 years or so.

if anyone takes this show in during the first few days can you report back if it is worth the trip down? It would be much appreciated.

I'll be seeing it on Wednesday, February 2 and I'll have a laptop with me, so if I have Wi-Fi in my Chicago hotel, I will definitely report!

[Wayne]

I'm not usually a fan of "street" photography, but I think this is some great, great work that goes way beyond the street. What an eye. I grew up near Chicago and it all looks so familiar, yet strange and distant. Looking forward to seeing more of it-might be worth a trip to Chicago to see it in person.

[arca andy]

Well done to Jon Maloof for getting the images out there, I stumbled on John blogspot web site last year whilst looking into buying a Rollieflex, Vivan's beautiful images swung it for me and I made the purchase... however my street shots of London are no where near those superb images.
I think her images are as close as you can get to 'pure' photography; one camera, one lens, one type of film, resulting in fantastic photos again and again

[mikebarger]

Obviously from the above posts this must be good work, and from a technical point of view I agree. I've yet to see a print of people, or one with people in it, that I would look at twice.

Guess I'm just geared different.

[Richard K.]

As I mentioned in another thread on her, I find her work to be comparable to that of Diane Arbus, Elliott Erwitt and Gary Winogrand. A remarkable discovery and story!

[John Jarosz]

Vivian Maier apparently worked very hard to fly under everyones radar. That effort was completely wasted as she has officially gone viral with the NYT having a big story on her today.

[Richard K.]

John, I couldn't find it in the online version of the NYT - do you have a link?

[Mike Anderson]

John, I couldn't find it in the online version of the NYT - do you have a link?

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/new-street-photography-60-years-old/

...Mike

[John Jarosz]

Mike beat me to it.....

[Donald Miller]

I think that her work is tuly wonderful. I am happy that she is finally receiving the notice that she richly deserves.

[Filmnut]

What little I've seen on the 'net makes me agree that this was some talented lady But I find myself wondering about what drove her, and why she kept such marvelous work to herself all her life.
Keith

[D. Bryant]

What little I've seen on the 'net makes me agree that this was some talented lady But I find myself wondering about what drove her, and why she kept such marvelous work to herself all her life.
Keith

Things were really different then especially for reclusive women. I wouldn't be surprised if over the years other photographers work like this pops up.

I can't recall his name but there is one gentleman who was a janitor that did something similar who was discovered in the past few years.

In days before electronic communication as we have now it was difficult to get recognition for street photography if one was an amateur. Also it's not clear to me if she actually had a lot of her work printed. She may not have been able to afford to do self promotion and print her work plus she obviously did her work as a loner and seems to have been satisfied with her anonymity and the mere act of photographing. Perhaps we will never know.

I'm glad to see the NY Times pickup the story. And I agree her work reminds me of parts of Harry Callahan's oeuvre.

Don

[Wayne]

Things were really different then especially for reclusive women.

You mean 2008, or 2009?

[Sirius Glass]

More of Vivian Maier's work.

http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

Keep selecting "Older Posts" at the bottom of each page.

Steve

[Bill_1856]

I think that it's pretty pedestrian.

[Brian C. Miller]

I'm not at all suprised that she left behind, undeveloped, "several hundred rolls of black-and-white film and about 600 color rolls." Her hobby was photography, just like it is for most of us. Jim DeNike dropped off over 1,500 rolls of Kodachrome, borrowing over $15,000 to get them developed. How many others out there have piles of film, exposed but not developed?

Consider this: what would have happened if these photographs had been on digital cameras instead of film?

I think that all of them would have been lost. Gone. Deleted. No backups. The whole system would have been tossed out because it was obsolete. Nobody bothers to paw through someone else's hard drive on a used computer.

But here film was found, and literally boxes and boxes of it. Vivian left behind over 100,000 negatives. And all from reliably going out on her days off and photographing whatever happened to be in front of her.

So now we know the value of the shoot-a-picture-a-day challenge. Keep it up, and then when we die somebody is going to paw through boxes and boxes of negatives and ask, "Who was this person? What are all these cool photographs?"

[tgtaylor]

BRAVO!!!

The juxtaposition of the horses' ass with the Sphinx is proof that she had a sense of humor as well as a very good eye for photography. Thanks for the post!

[Frank Petronio]

It's like everything else these days, look at all the Homeland Security data collection... we have trillions of terrabytes of information, trillions of photos, and no way to evaluate and weigh its value.

Perhaps if it was digital, some future ("artificial") intelligence could shift through all these images and identify the most significant?

In a way, this is what a social networking photo-sharing site like Flickr is doing... with humans ranking photos with comments, favorites, and tags. And short of a total collapse, Flickr's servers will keep on running through limited nuclear war and environmental catastrophes.

So if Viv was a proto-Flickr user, one of Caterina and Stewart's disciples... her photos would live on forever.

Which is a lot longer than your negatives will last in the landfill.

[Brian C. Miller]

Oh, yeah, it'll last until Yahoo! gets a clue that there isn't a revenue stream there. Or until Yahoo! goes under, whichever comes first. And since bagels and newspapers last ever so long in a landfill, then I suppose that negatives just might last, as well. So some archeologist just might come along and say, "Wow, who was this Petronio guy, anyways?" And a cult will form about you, centuries after your death.

But of course Uncle Earl will have been there before us... ;)

(As far as neural networks go for recognizing threats, there was an experiment done to differentiate US tanks from Soviet tanks. They thought that they were good to go, until they realized that what it was doing was differentiating overcast from sunny scenes. All of the US tanks were photographed on sunny days, and the Soviet tanks were photographed on cloudy days. But if the computers really did target the main daily cause of death in the US, nobody would drive a car any longer.)

[77seriesiii]

Man, I am jealous of all who get to view the work in person. My wife sent me the Chicago news report a few minutes ago and just stunning. Sad to see that she literally died a few days before Maloof was able to find out the name behind the photography.

Amazing photographer, love our Rollei and squares rule, rectangles drool! :D

./e

[bob carnie]

I have been aware of Vivian's work for a couple of years now, in fact I have printed some of her negatives. A young lady the works part time for me purchased over thirty negatives a couple years back from the guy who purchased the film. Until this week I believed she was a very unknown photographer.
This young man has an incredible find on his hands as the neg's are in first rate condition, at least the ones I have seen.
I never new how well know she was and this discovery and publicity is simply amazing.

This will be a story to follow and see how Vivian's work is handled and reviewed.

[John NYC]

http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,80&pid=A1hO97qcWo7ViDL_rWniVH2LakYxNa7J

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks so much for posting that!

[Richard K.]

I think that it's pretty pedestrian.

Sorry, just for clarification, do you mean her work is ordinary? Or that she had to walk around a lot to get all those photos?:rolleyes:

If the former, have you seen this video:

http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,80&pid=A1hO97qcWo7ViDL_rWniVH2LakYxNa7J

After watching do you still think so? It's funny how different people can have such divergent opinions of her work...I see flashes of Arbus, Winogrand, Erwitt and even Weegee in her (to my eye) outstanding work!

[Jim Galli]

Sorry, just for clarification, do you mean her work is ordinary? Or that she had to walk around a lot to get all those photos?:rolleyes:

If the former, have you seen this video:

http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,80&pid=A1hO97qcWo7ViDL_rWniVH2LakYxNa7J

After watching do you still think so? It's funny how different people can have such divergent opinions of her work...I see flashes of Arbus, Winogrand, Erwitt and even Weegee in her (to my eye) outstanding work!


Richard, you have to understand the Bill_1856 was present when God created the world in 6 days, and he yawned and said, "that's it?"

[Richard K.]

I just got the e-mail below from the group producing a book and dvd on Vivian Maier:

The Chicago Cultural Center exhibition of Vivian Maier's work opened yesterday. The curators said that it was the largest turnout they've ever had for a first floor opening. It was overwhelming. It runs through April 3rd, so if you're in Chicago and, especially if you're a backer, you should take some time to visit the Cultural Center and see her 72 prints on display.

[mikebarger]

I watched the video, how the negatives were "found" was interesting. But, it didn't change/increase my interest in her work.

Many people like street photos, some don't. I'd drive many miles to look at Alex Hawley's shots of the Flint Hills and of buildings he has photographed. Wait a minute, I have driven many miles to look at his work.

There are just a lot of different interests in photography, I don't think there should be an expectation that everyone will like this work.

[Uncle Brian]

Why is it that so many great artists are not discovered until after their death? I wonder if Vivian realised how good a photographer she was or did she leave all that film undeveloped because she had no belief in her own work.

I won't get to see the show but i will get the book if it's ever printed and it can go on the pile next to Henri and Ansel.

Her work has definitely made me look at square format in a new way ... the " I want one" kind of way :)

[Merg Ross]

Why is it that so many great artists are not discovered until after their death?

Often it is because they spend their time perfecting their craft rather than promoting it. In photography, Vivian Maier was a member of a large group of such artists. It has happened in the past and will continue to happen.

This is exceptional work, enhanced by one who understands the square format. I still have a question as to the cropping of the presented images; hers, or is it being done at the scanning stage? Whichever, it is marvelous work!

[Sirius Glass]

While Vivian was a very private person, it is too bad that she never got to see how others valued and appreciated her work.

Steve

[Mike Anderson]

Why didn't she promote her work? Who knows.

Franz Kafka wanted all his unpublished work burned:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/magazine/26kafka-t.html?pagewanted=all

So I see a kind of spectrum here: people that want their work to be preserved (and maybe promoted), people who are apparently ambivalent (like Ms. Maier here, I'm assuming) and people like K. who willed that it all be burned.

I find the middle group most interesting. I think Vivian Maier's story is very interesting, maybe because it's so un-self-promoted. And I do like her pictures, FWIW.

And her pictures + her story, the thing has legs. Much more so than Norsigian's Uncle Earl negatives.

...Mike

[Richard K.]

There are just a lot of different interests in photography, I don't think there should be an expectation that everyone will like this work.

Totally right and fine and there certainly are genres that I find boring.

I guess I was wondering if a few of the people that commented that they didn't like her work were actually expressing lack of excitement for that GENRE, or do they really not like HER work- eg. they like Winogrand but not Maier. That I find harder to understand because to me she is outstanding in that genre. To imply that her work is ordinary or short of the mark as STREET PHOTOGRAPHY seems to contradict the prevalent assessment.

[Richard K.]

Why is it that so many great artists are not discovered until after their death? I wonder if Vivian realised how good a photographer she was or did she leave all that film undeveloped because she had no belief in her own work.

I understand that Winogrand had a few dozen rolls left undeveloped as well...:D


Her work has definitely made me look at square format in a new way ... the " I want one" kind of way :)

I seem to have been affected the same way...hey one more camera can't hurt... :) what was it a Rollei TLR?

[Richard K.]

This is exceptional work, enhanced by one who understands the square format.

Glad to hear that you like it Merg. In the other thread of the same title there are folks a little less enthusiastic. :) I totally agree with your assessment.



I still have a question as to the cropping of the presented images; hers, or is it being done at the scanning stage? Whichever, it is marvelous work!

I would also like to know about the printing for the exhibit.

[Mike Anderson]

...
So if Viv was a proto-Flickr user, one of Caterina and Stewart's disciples... her photos would live on forever.
...

I often wonder about this. "Do digital things put up on the internet have a likelihood of lasting a long time?" Certainly some things do, famous things. On this website we just propagated a bunch of alleged Yogi Berra sayings. Pictures of famous people naked have a strong tendency toward digital immortality. Sarah Palin just took down her map with crosshair targets on it, but that image as of today is well copied, iconosized, infamisized and immortalized.

But does the general riff-raff of the internet (on flickr.com or whatever) have much of a promise of immortality? I think it's too early to tell. Certainly nobody is going to depend on it (who is going to depend on flickr.com or any free service to store important things?) On the other hand, putting something up on flickr or even a small time website (like this one) just might achieve a practical immortality.

It's too soon to tell.

...Mike

[Brian C. Miller]

I often wonder about this. "Do digital things put up on the internet have a likelihood of lasting a long time?"

"Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it."
-- Linus Torvalds

I honestly think that if Vivian had left behind boxes of 4Gb flash drives and DVDs, all of what she did would have gone in the dump, or been erased. It is because she left behind film that what she produced was preserved. To see what is on film, just hold it up to the light. No computers, no virus scans, just light. See it, know it, enjoy it.

When something is uploaded to a network share, is the maximum data file uploaded, or something less? I'm pretty sure that it's always something less. And then when that gets propagated, the size invariably shrinks down to a network-friendly size. Maybe 640x480, or less. (The Vivian Maier photos on the web are smaller.)

From my own experience, stuff that gets put up for free hosting gets removed at the hoster's expedience. I used to have all kinds of stuff up on photo.net, but it's not there, now. Another angle, from Jason Kottke (http://kottke.org/09/10/vivian-maier-recently-discovered-street-photographer), is what if Vivian had been computer savvy and uploaded her pictures herself? Would anybody have cared? Or are we paying attention to her because it's like finding a mysterious message in a bottle?

[Jay DeFehr]

It is because she left behind film that what she produced was preserved. To see what is on film, just hold it up to the light. No computers, no virus scans, just light. See it, know it, enjoy it.

That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that without someone scanning and posting her images to the internet, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion. I think it's pure romanticism to claim anyone would have appreciated Vivian's work by holding up to the light her negatives. To my mind, the media is insignificant.

[Brian C. Miller]

This is exceptional work, enhanced by one who understands the square format. I still have a question as to the cropping of the presented images; hers, or is it being done at the scanning stage? Whichever, it is marvelous work!

Vivian had more than one camera. Some of the scans are from negatives and prints which weren't square. Some look like a 6x9, some look like a 645, but of course I'm just guessing. I'm sure she had a camera which produced portrait-oriented images, so I'm guessing 645. Other images really look like 6x9 (2in x 3in) format. The majority seem to be 6x6.

I wonder how many pairs of shoes she wore out roaming the streets.

Yeah, she was good.

Thing is, though, is that a lot of photography like that only works in a social setting where there are lots of people normally outdoors. I've heard people from Chicago and NY comment about Seattle, where's all the people on the street? We seem to have a deficit of pedestrians around here.

[Ken Lee]

Two threads have been merged into one on request of members.

[Merg Ross]

Two threads have been merged into one on request of members.

Ken, thanks!

[Sirius Glass]

Two threads have been merged into one on request of members.

Thanks,

Steve

[Richard K.]

Has anyone been to the Chicago show yet? Report please. :) Are the prints her vintage prints or are there some reprints? By whom?

[Thebes]

Consider this: what would have happened if these photographs had been on digital cameras instead of film?

Deleted when formatted before selling the laptop and drives on fleabay. Or if not, after a few years of not being powered on it wouldn't much matter anyway.

[tgtaylor]

The discovery of Vivian Maier is an excellent example of what's unlikely to occur in the future with digital media. Several years back while waiting for the protesters to an execution at San Quentin to arrive, several member of the gathered news-media were discussing the increasing improbability of finding historical photographs in some attic in the future with the advent of digital photography.

Interestingly, this article http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110109/ap_on_hi_te/us_eternal_storage_3 announcing a California non-profit that's dedicated to the preservation "forever" of digital media appeared in today's news.

[Jim Galli]

Already alluded to but since the invention of air conditioning, most of these pics no longer occur. We've gone indoors to watch 'reality' shows on our boob tubes. The era and the substrate combined to lock in a situation that not only won't re-occur, the storage medium is insufficient.

[John Jarosz]

The interesting thing about these photographs is that they are purely visual. No data about who, what where, when, camera, film, all that banal crap. The photos are pure images that are appreciated (or not) exclusively based on their visual content. Even the photographer is unknown and there is no verbal drivel to distract the viewer.

That's probably part of the appeal as well. Each viewer views the image thru their own eyes, imagination, prejudices rather than being "set up" to respond by a title or even a date with a location.

[chris_4622]

I'll be going on Friday or Saturday this week to view the show.

[Richard K.]

I'll be going on Friday or Saturday this week to view the show.

Let us know what you think...:D

[Jay DeFehr]

I think it's significant that Vivian had printed very few images, published none, and left thousands unprocessed. Clearly, for Vivian, photography was about the act of photographing, and the image, and not the process or the media. I think Vivian would have been far better served by digital photography than film photography.

[Wayne]

I think it's significant that Vivian had printed very few images, published none, and left thousands unprocessed. Clearly, for Vivian, photography was about the act of photographing, and the image, and not the process or the media. I think Vivian would have been far better served by digital photography than film photography.

There is no image in digital photography until it is printed, and digital photographers have made it abundantly and redundantly clear that the ONLY thing that matters is the final image.

[Sirius Glass]

There is no image in digital photography until it is printed, and digital photographers have made it abundantly and redundantly clear that the ONLY thing that matters is the final image.

Digital photographers have made it abundantly and redundantly clear that reality has nothing to do with their work. :D

Steve

[al olson]

Already alluded to but since the invention of air conditioning, most of these pics no longer occur. We've gone indoors to watch 'reality' shows on our boob tubes. The era and the substrate combined to lock in a situation that not only won't re-occur, the storage medium is insufficient.

Good point, Jim. In addition I think that street photography and candids at events are more difficult because people have become more hostile about getting their picture taken. Fifty years ago very few people had serious cameras. The common cameras were the Brownie, the Hawkeye, etc. Anyone carrying a serious looking camera such as a press camera, TLR, 35mm, got more respect because the photograph must be more important, maybe for the newspaper.

When I would be carrying my Speed Graphic on the street, people (guys mostly) would clown and call out, "Hey photographer, take my picture." Then they would go into some phony glamor pose (one hand behind the head, other hand on the hip and look back over their shoulder).

Nowdays, people resent the invasion of their privacy, they expect some sort of ownership of the photograph, and they are just generally suspicious of your motives.


I think it's significant that Vivian had printed very few images, published none, and left thousands unprocessed. Clearly, for Vivian, photography was about the act of photographing, and the image, and not the process or the media. I think Vivian would have been far better served by digital photography than film photography.

I think that in her era it was difficult to get respect for street photography (Cartier-Bresson and a few others were the exception. It wasn't acceptable as fine art like it has become these days. People weren't buying pictures of strangers to put on their walls. Museum budgets weren't what they are today. Best opportunities were to be published in Life, Look, Match and some of the other weeklies.

Also working as a nanny certainly her resources were limited which may explain why so many rolls were never developed. In these circumstances it is easy to understand why she was not able to promote herself if she were so inclined.

I don't see her as a loner because as is evident, other people photographed her, so she must have been with friends. The eye she had for composition and irony suggest to me that she must have enjoyed showing the results to others. (The photo of the backs of two matronly women in their fox stoles reminds me of some of the photos that Arthur Fellig made of the society set.) Also with regard to some of the flash night photos, would a lone woman go out on the street at night by herself?

[Jay DeFehr]

There is no image in digital photography until it is printed, and digital photographers have made it abundantly and redundantly clear that the ONLY thing that matters is the final image.

Wayne,

I don't know what you're talking about. The moment the image is recorded on the sensor, there is an image. With film, it's a latent image, that requires chemical processing to become a negative intermediary. With digital, the image information exists as pure data until it's displayed on a screen of some kind, or printed. I don't know who you mean by "digital photographers", or what you mean by "final image".

Al,

As far as we know, Vivian never tried to promote herself or her work, and had very few prints made, for any reason. According to those closest to Vivian, she was indeed a loner, most, if not all of the photos of her having been made by her, and yes, she certainly did go out alone at night, and in fact, travelled the world alone. There is nothing to suggest she enjoyed showing her work to others. I think you're making a lot of unfounded assumptions about Vivian.

[Brian C. Miller]

Good point, Jim. In addition I think that street photography and candids at events are more difficult because people have become more hostile about getting their picture taken. ... Nowdays, people resent the invasion of their privacy, they expect some sort of ownership of the photograph, and they are just generally suspicious of your motives.

Gary Winogrand was sued over a photograph of two twins walking in Central Park in the 1970s. One of the sisters saw the photograph on exhibition, and successfully sued. Philip-Lorca diCorcia was sued by Erno Nussenzweig (Nussenzweig v. DiCorcia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nussenzweig_v._DiCorcia)) for being photographed without his consent or knowledge. The lawsuit was unsuccessful. In the UK the courts came to the conclusion that if you are in public, then you can expect to be photographed.

But stuff like that is rare. I've heard that TLR users have an easier time, since the camera is at waist level, and people expect that cameras need to be at eye level.

[chris_4622]

I went to the exhibit yesterday. Here are some thoughts and observations.

Technical: All the images hanging on the wall are ink jet prints. There are a few of her prints in a glass case with three cameras. The lighting was bright for viewing, unlike going to a museum and viewing vintage prints under subdued lighting. The curator looked at roughly a thousand scans before picking the 80 that are in the show. The prints look good, though if one picks at them there are some images that have blown highlights. I don't have much experience looking at ink jet prints so I can't say what is the cause. Also the window mats along the top edge were not cut straight.

The Images: There is a group of self portraits she did that are compelling, especially one with her shadow and her bag, which was left in the light.
Scattered throughout the show are three shots of a woman looking over her shoulder at the camera. These were powerful for me because of the courage it takes to be that close and click the shutter just when the subject is conscious and reacts to the photographer.

In this exhibit there is some humor to be seen. There were a few color prints and one particular shot taken in 1978 on Chestnut St. in Chicago is sure to make you laugh.

There are other memorable photos from the exhibit but won't go into them here. I enjoyed the show and recommend it. I'll be stopping back in before the show ends.

chris

[Richard K.]

Thank you for the report!! Were there many people there? Any literature?

[bob carnie]

Some silver prints of Vivian's work have been printed here at my lab, they are quite lovely and I believe that silver is the way these negatives should be printed on an enlarger .
My reasoning is not that I dislike inkjet , rather an enlarger wet silver print , or platinum for that matter would be historically correct method.

any thoughts?


I went to the exhibit yesterday. Here are some thoughts and observations.

Technical: All the images hanging on the wall are ink jet prints. There are a few of her prints in a glass case with three cameras. The lighting was bright for viewing, unlike going to a museum and viewing vintage prints under subdued lighting. The curator looked at roughly a thousand scans before picking the 80 that are in the show. The prints look good, though if one picks at them there are some images that have blown highlights. I don't have much experience looking at ink jet prints so I can't say what is the cause. Also the window mats along the top edge were not cut straight.

The Images: There is a group of self portraits she did that are compelling, especially one with her shadow and her bag, which was left in the light.
Scattered throughout the show are three shots of a woman looking over her shoulder at the camera. These were powerful for me because of the courage it takes to be that close and click the shutter just when the subject is conscious and reacts to the photographer.

In this exhibit there is some humor to be seen. There were a few color prints and one particular shot taken in 1978 on Chestnut St. in Chicago is sure to make you laugh.

There are other memorable photos from the exhibit but won't go into them here. I enjoyed the show and recommend it. I'll be stopping back in before the show ends.

chris

[Allen in Montreal]

Some silver prints of Vivian's work have been printed here at my lab, they are quite lovely and I believe that silver is the way these negatives should be printed on an enlarger .
My reasoning is not that I dislike inkjet , rather an enlarger wet silver print , or platinum for that matter would be historically correct method.

any thoughts?

I agree Bob,
I have seen some wonderful ink jet prints, but these images belong on silver.
From what you have seen, do they look best, or feel right, on a slight warmtone?
I think of the young kids looking out the window, back towards her and can help but wonder what that print would look like on ilford WT.

[chris_4622]

Thank you for the report!! Were there many people there? Any literature?

It was crowded but not so much as to detract from the experience. It was Saturday afternoon.

There is one page of paper with printed text that is available. I thought about making it available via the web but I'm not sure how to best do that.

chris

[bob carnie]

I have seen the images on Ilford Warmtone and as well on Ilford MG4 and on the Harmon Digital fibre paper off my Lamda.

The Ilford MG4 with slight sepia and selenium looked most appropriate to my eyes. With the Enlarger prints , all the defects were kept in place which I feel is the correct way to print historical negs.




I agree Bob,
I have seen some wonderful ink jet prints, but these images belong on silver.
From what you have seen, do they look best, or feel right, on a slight warmtone?
I think of the young kids looking out the window, back towards her and can help but wonder what that print would look like on ilford WT.

[BarryS]

http://img64.imageshack.us/i/imageqxs.jpg/

I was just at the show this morning. The inkjet prints aren't bad--printed on a matte art paper. There were a few examples of Maier's prints. I'm not sure if they were printed by her or a lab, but the quality was nothing special. I'd love to see a show of silver prints, but I'll take what I can get. I think she's going to assume a significant place in 20th c photography and the exhibition confirms her expansive talent.

[Wayne]

I think she's going to assume a significant place in 20th c photography and the exhibition confirms her expansive talent.

She's going to be glad to hear this. Oh, wait.

[Denis Pleic]

She's going to be glad to hear this. Oh, wait.

:D

On a more serious note, I wonder what would have happened had she been "discovered" 50 years ago? Or even 20 years ago?

[Brian C. Miller]

How could an extremely private hobbyist photographer be discovered?

From what I understand, she was extremely reserved about her photography. The only way any of this came to light was because she couldn't keep up the payments on her storage lockers. None of the photographs came directly from her, but only from someone who had come into posession of her negatives.

The only way that she would have been "discovered" would be someone at a lab would see the photos, and then be able to engage Vivian about them. But this brings us back to Vivian herself, and her desire for privacy.

[GabrielSeri]

Wow, this is an awesome find! I'm really into her work and story. However, I do feel a little guilty that her work wasn't kept private, maybe there is a reason she kept it to herself for so many years.

[John Jarosz]

The only way any of this came to light was because she couldn't keep up the payments on her storage lockers

It's hard to make those payments from where she is currently.

[chris_4622]

Another gallery, Russell Bowman Art Advisory at 311 W Superior has an exhibit up until June 18 of Vivian's work. These prints are from a different set of negatives than the Maloof collection.

There are around thirty 12"x12" silver paper prints. Also there are a number of original prints hanging as well.