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Mystery and fame in documentary “Finding Vivian Maier”

Mystery and fame in documentary “Finding Vivian Maier”

In the age of digital photography and the Internet, where taking thousands of pictures and sharing them online with the whole world does not surprise anyone, it is hard to imagine a talented photographer, who took over 100,000 images throughout her life, never showing any or her work to anyone. This is why the discovery of an immense photographic archive of stunning images by American nanny and street photographer Vivian Maier has become a sensation far outside the photographic world.

In 2007, Chicago historian and art collector John Maloof acquired about 30,000 negatives from an auction. In the boxes, he discovered the name Vivian Maier, but could not find any information on the artist except for a death notice in the Chicago Tribune. This was just the beginning of an extensive research he did to find out who was this mysterious, yet exceptionally talented photographer, not previously known to the world. This discovery led him to create a fascinating documentary about Vivian Maier, her personality and her work.

So who was this woman, posthumously recognized as one of the most remarkable American street photographers of the 20th century, and called by critics “a female Robert Frank”? Born in New York City, Vivian Maier worked as a nanny and caretaker for different families throughout her life. In the film, she is vividly remembered by the children she brought up, now adults, as an eccentric, free-spirited, “tell-it-like-it-is” type of person, a “Mary Poppins alive”, who never stopped taking pictures of everything she saw with her trusty Rolleiflex camera. At the same time, she was a very private person, and even the few people she had been friends with, knew absolutely nothing about her. She would never show any of her photos, and her archive contained over 2,000 undeveloped rolls of film with images she never even saw herself.

Witty, absorbing, often touching and sometimes even dark, the film unfolds the story layer by layer and is definitely well done to attract any viewer. It shows many of Maier’s photographs, self-portraits, homemade video recordings and collections of articles linked to her life. Her archives seem like a perfectly prepared puzzle to be solved after she’s gone, and John Maloof presents his solution in this masterful documentary about one of the most mysterious photographers of the 20th century, Vivian Maier.

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About the Author

Nadia Gric

Nadia Gric

Nadia is passionate about the visual aspect of life and the personalities she meets along the way. Living in the heart of Paris, Nadia never stops exploring the City of Light through her camera and readily shares her knowledge and love for photography.

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