Enigmatic and unsmiling, Vivian Maier worked hard to perfect her artistry
CHICAGO Yawning gaps in the life story of enigmatic Chicago nanny Vivian Maier, whose gritty street photography became a sensation and the subject of an Oscarnominated documentary, led to early depictions of her as a camerawielding Mary Poppins who may not have fully grasped nor cultivated her raw talent.
But new research reveals the French-speaking Maier as obsessive about honing her craft starting in 1950. Author Ann Marks, who wrote Vivian Maier Developed: The Real Story of the Photographer Nanny (Amazon digital, 2017), drew on her access to
140,000 mostly unpublished Maier photos as well as personal notes Maier kept and documents uncovered in public archives.
Maier’s Golden Era ran from the mid-’50s into the late 1960s in New York City, where she was born, and then Chicago. Her 15-year burst of creativity steadily waned beginning around 1970. She died penniless and living alone at 83 in 2009.
A key player in her discovery was John Maloof, a writer and historian who went on to help direct Finding Vivian Maier (2014). He bought a box full of Maier’s negatives and undeveloped film at auction from a storage locker repossessed in 2007 because Maier was delinquent on the payments. He
only later recognized their significance. He now owns 90 per cent of her work.
Maier was an enigma. She was drawn to children but seemed incapable of forging relationships with adults. Marks also calls her an early feminist who “believed she could outdo any man.”
Why did Maier only ever develop and print a tiny percentage of her photos?
Part of the explanation, Marks says, was a hoarding disorder that became so severe a floor in her apartment buckled under the weight of her newspaper collection. The act of taking pictures — snapshots of time saved on rolls of undeveloped film — satisfied her urge to collect, psychologists told Marks.
The Associated Press