A fascinating story in the Independent about Vivian Maier, a
French nanny whose hobby was photography—maybe that’s an understatement, it
seems more of a calling. A young Chicago real estate agent named John Maloof happened
to buy much of her archive for a few hundred dollars, not really knowing what
it contained. He ended up with 20,000 negatives and a thousand rolls of
undeveloped film, each with 12-14 images, mostly of Chicago and New York.
He put some of them online and it has caused a sensation,
with Maeir being called a new star of mid-century American photography.
Maloof found out she was still alive but too ill to see
anyone and when he decided to make an effort to meet with her, he found out
she’d died the previous day. He’s writing a book about her, featuring some of
her best work.
You can see examples of her work at the blog www.vivianmaier.com and read a bit more
about the story. They’re brilliant black and white images—what an eye she had!
One of the things that fascinates me is that she never showed her photos to
anyone (and never saw many of them herself in print form, apparently). She must
have been truly in love with the process for its own sake.
A heartwarming PS to the story is that when, in old age, she
fell upon hard times, three brothers she had nannied bought her an apartment
and paid her bills until she died.
