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Vivian Maier – B&W
Gallery Updated (153 B&W images) August 2022
Video Below: Ann Marks provides an overview of her research.
Vivian Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009)
An American of French and Austro-Hungarian extraction, Vivian bounced between Europe and the United States before coming back to New York City in 1951. Having picked up photography just two years earlier, she would comb the streets of the Big Apple refining her artistic craft. By 1956 Vivian left the East Coast for Chicago, where she’d spend most of the rest of her life working as a caregiver. Throughout her life Vivian would shoot photos that she zealously hid from the eyes of others. Taking photographs into the late 1990′s, Maier would leave behind a body of work comprising over 150,000 negatives. Additionally Vivian’s passion for documenting extended to a series of homemade documentary films and audio recordings. Interesting bits of Americana, the demolition of historic landmarks for new development, the unseen lives of ethnics and the destitute, as well as some of Chicago’s most cherished sites were all meticulously cataloged by Vivian Maier.
A free spirit but also a proud soul, Vivian became poor and was ultimately saved by three of the children she had nannied earlier in her life. Fondly remembering Maier as a second mother, they pooled together to pay for an apartment and took the best of care for her. Unbeknownst to them, one of Vivian’s storage lockers was auctioned off due to delinquent payments. In those storage lockers lay the massive hoard of negatives Maier secretly stashed throughout her lifetime.
Maier’s massive body of work would come to light when in 2007 her work was discovered at a local thrift auction house on Chicago’s Northwest Side. From there, it would eventually impact the world over and change the life of the man who championed her work and brought it to the public eye, John Maloof.
Currently, Vivian Maier’s body of work is being archived and cataloged for the enjoyment of others and for future generations. John Maloof is at the core of this project after reconstructing most of the archive, having been previously dispersed to the various buyers attending that auction. Now, with roughly 90% of her archive reconstructed, Vivian’s work is part of a renaissance in interest in the art of Street Photography.
Lumière is pleased to work with the Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery to offer this exceptional work.
Additional biographical information can be found on the website VivianMaier.com
Vivian Maier – Pricing Structure
The work of Vivian Maier is featured in these exhibitions.
(Select the image to view the exhibition page)
Vivian Maier The Color Work
Vivian Maier: A Deeper Look
Street Talk
Vivian Maier: New Work
View From The Street
The work of Vivian Maier is featured in these Theme Collections.
(Select the image to view the theme page)
Abstraction – B&W
Portraiture – Female
Portraiture – Male
Seascapes – B&W
Urban Landscapes – B&W
Ann Marks
January 15, 2015: Finding Vivian Maier was nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Feature category. We would like pass along our congratulation to John Maloof, Charlie Siskel, and Executive Producer Jeff Garlin.
The Atlanta Debut of the film Finding Vivian Maier was Friday April 11th, 2014, at the Lefont Sandy Springs Theater. The film had a four week run 4/11-5/8.
We were pleased to coordinate an appearance by Executive Producer: Jeff Garlin, for a question and answer session following the Saturday April 12 1:45 afternoon screening, and an introduction to the 3:40 screening. Below is the Official Trailer of Finding Vivian Maier
This intriguing documentary shuttles from New York to France to Chicago as it traces the life story of the late Vivian Maier, a career nanny whose previously unknown cache of 100,000 photographs has earned her a posthumous reputation as one of America’s most accomplished and insightful street photographers.
Reviews:
New York Times, March 21, 2014
New Yorker, March 26, 2014
New York Times, March 27, 2014
NPR, March 27, 2014
Review by Steve Murray of ArtsATL, April 8, 2014.
Select Here: to go to Vivian Maier’s updated artist page and view recently released images.
E-MAIL – requests for viewing and purchasing work from the Maloof Collection.
Vivian Maier Developed
Presentation by Ann Marks
Thank you to the standing room crowd who braved the elements on Saturday, January 19th.
Ann Marks
To see more of Vivian Maier’s Color work visit her Lumière Color artist page,
Or the exhibition page, Vivian Maier: The Color Work.
Gallery Talk: John Maloof - Vivian Maier
Saturday September 17th @ Lumiere
John Maloof via Skype
John provided an informal and intimate update on the status of his continuing efforts to support and expose the world to the work of Vivian Maier. Maloof joined us via SKYPE from his new art space, Miishkooki, located in Skokie IL. During the course of the hour long informative discussion John updated us on the status of Vivian’s last undeveloped film (all is now developed) and the progress, and mis-steps of organizing such a large archive of work. We were even treated to a cameo appearance by John’s dog. Additional information on John’s recent activity can be found on the links below.
Recent article in the Chicago Reader – 8/31/16
Press for: Finding Vivian Maier
February 12, 2015
PBS NewsHour – 6:36
NewsHour Goes to the Movies: with Jeffrey Brown. Includes interviews with Charlie Siskel, John Maloof and excepts from the film.
In 2007, a monumental cache of photographic negatives were sold at auction. The man who bought them, John Maloof, soon discovered stunning images of Chicago street scenes from the mid-20th century. Who was the unknown artist behind the photographs? Jeffrey Brown talks to co-directors Maloof and Charlie Siskel about their Oscar-nominated documentary, “Finding Vivian Maier.”
This is an interview of Charlie Siskel and John Maloof, produced in March of 2014 prior to the theatrical release of Finding Vivian Maier. This interview is 36 minutes in length.
Feinstein/Maier Reviewed in ArtsATL
December 16, 2014
By Virginie Kippelen
Lumière’s “View from the Street” a lively dialogue between Harold Feinstein, Vivian Maier.
This exhibition pairs the work of two great photographers. Vivian Maier, who died in 2009, is the mysterious nanny who rocketed to posthumous stardom after the discovery of her negatives in a storage locker in 2007. Harold Feinstein, now 83, was already exhibiting at the Museum of Modern Art at the age of 19 and collected by the likes of Edward Steichen. He was associated with the influential New York school and collaborated with W. Eugene Smith.
It’s an ingenious coupling: the juxtaposition brings out their similarities and their differences.
To read the entire review follow this link to ArtsATL.
Exhibition: Vivian Maier: New Work II
Lumière was pleased to present: Vivian Maier: New Work II. The updated exhibition featured recently released images from the John Maloof Collection. The exhibition coincided with the Atlanta screening of Finding Vivian Maier. The exhibition was on view until June 7, 2014
Visit the exhibition page or her recently updated artist page to see additional images.
Vivian Maier Exhibition (Dec, 2013) Reviewed on ArtsATL
Vivian Maier’s Once-Secret Photos Capture Every-day Treasures
December 2, 2013
By Donna Mintz
An amateur Chicago historian unearthed a photographic treasure trove when he bought a box at a storage facility auction in 2007. John Maloof ‘s discovery of 150,000-plus negatives, hundreds of rolls of undeveloped film and countless reels of documentary film propelled an all-but-forgotten woman into the pantheon of photography.
Vivian Maier, a reclusive Chicago nanny, left behind her life’s work in that storage container, which was auctioned off for non-payment of rent. She died in a nursing home in early 2009 without ever sharing her life-long passion for photography. Now we must look to her work — what she chose to capture and how beautifully she recorded it — to understand the artist and her silence. To read the complete review please follow this link to the ArtsATL web page.
Visit our exhibition page or her recently updated artist page to see additional images.
