Many Italian blogs have already written about her. As often happens, I discovered his work in the portfolio section of Internazionale.it a few months ago and since then her reputation has continued to grow day by day. About three years after his death, his photographs are not yet all been developed.
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| Photo by Vivian Maier |
But first things first. Vivian Maier (1 February 1926 - 21 April 2009) was born in New York, grew up in France before returning to the USA. In his self-portraits, she is a serious-looking girl, pensive, concentrated and appears as a solitary creature that inhabits her inner world. She lives in Chicago for most of her life. She works as a nanny, babysitter, in middle-class American families of the '60s and '70s. In this context Vivian has to find space and time to make her genious breathe. Every day, unconsciously, Vivian uses photography to reconstruct her inner world and to put it in communication with her sorroundings. She uses a Rolleiflex, black and white films, medium format and rarely a tripod for self-portraits when she's alone in her room. Vivian photographs the children with whom she spends her days, thanks to her work as a nanny and she captures the city's daily life that flows around her: women in fur coats who walk the streets, men at work, the life of the streets of Chicago and New York.
She's also fascinated by people who live on the margins and in solitude, by whom was forgotten by others. Her photographs show a strong empathy and sensitivity. She plays with the reflections and city lights. She appreciate those 'timeless moments', hard to wait and to be recognized. Although she appears as a sad and serious, 'Vivian photographer' knows how to be ironic and spiteful.
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| Photo by Vivian Maier |
Nobody knew the photographic production of Vivian Maier until a few months ago when a young investor in real estate, John Maloof, bought at auction an apartment in the North West of Chicago, containing a huge amount of undeveloped rolls of film and related material as photographic papers and machines belonging to Vivian.
Now Vivian Maier's photographs are worth a fortune and are exhibited in the most famous museums of the globe. On the internet it says that Vivian has "fallen into poverty" and that she died sick and alone. From her photo archive, which continues to be developed day by day by John Maloof and his collaborators, have not yet appeared photographs that depict a lover of the author, no boyfriend or girlfriend.
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| Photo by Vivian Maier |
Every picture of Vivian tells a story that is worth to be known, the history of Chicago in the '50s and '60s filtered from the history of her life.
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| Photo by Vivian Maier |
