It wouldn’t be surprising to see Vivian Maier’s life brought to the big screen. An ordinary life but an extraordinary destiny. Hollywood has all the ingredients to make a movie.
Let’s start at the end. In 2007 in the United States, John Maloof is a 25-year-old real estate agent. He buys a box where personal effects are stored. Including many boxes of photos.
Street photographer
April 2009, the same Maloof, discovers in his junkyard an envelope in the name of Vivian Maier. After some research on the Internet, he came across a funeral notice bearing the name of this person who died on April 21, 2009.
He comes into contact with three people, it is the Gensburg brothers who will tell him the story of this Vivian, of her passion for photography.
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Self-portrait in the rearview mirror with children. © Vivian Maier / Maloof Collection
A first exhibition in Chicago, a documentary Finding Vivian Maier will build the legend of this woman photographer who will never have known success during her lifetime.
Vivian Maier is a street photographer. She roamed the working-class neighborhoods of New York and Chicago where she lived with her beautiful Rolleiflex camera around her neck. A square format. Black and white.
The camera on the chest, a discreet eye on the subject photographed, this gentle approach technique allowed him to capture men and women who walk, go to work, or kill time because that’s all that their remainder, since they no longer have a job.
From black and white to color
Vivian also captures elements of this proud American architecture. She will experiment with color and a horizontal format with an almost cinematographic framing work. Besides, it’s no coincidence that she starts making Super-8 films. This almost unknown has its place with Robert Doisneau, Diane Arbus or Robert Franck.
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New York, 3 septembre 1954. © Vivian Maier, Courtesy of Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY
Her face is familiar as she has photographed it a lot. Serious, short hair, pinched look, no smile. It’s her. The self-portrait, with the artist, is not necessarily a sign of egocentricity. But quite simply, because he himself is his first model! Vivian played a lot with mirrors and shadows to represent herself.
Another favorite subject, children. His own childhood is not necessarily very rosy. She was born in 1926 in New York. Three years later, his parents separate.
Stays in France
Her mother, who has French roots, embarks her daughter in 1932 near the Champsaur, in the Alps. Six years later, mother and daughter return to New York. France, Vivian will return there alone, later, twice.
The first in 1950 to sell a property inherited, the second ten years later after a six-month trip to Canada, Egypt, Yemen, Italy, Thailand. All his money will be spent on this long journey… and the purchase of the famous Rolleiflex.
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On a street in Chicago. © Vivian Maier, Courtesy of Maloof Collection and Howard
As you have to live well, Vivian works as a nurse. Nanny, that will be her job. One of the most significant experiences of his professional life will be his involvement with the Gensburg family in Chicago.
In misery
She will take care of the three boys in the family, John, Lane and Matthew. Once grown up, the three brothers will no longer need a nanny. Much later, in the 90s, they will find their old nanny. And discover that she lives in misery.
The three brothers will help her financially, she will live near Lake Michigan until she falls on a patch of ice in December 2008. She dies five months later. The rest, you know it. These are the three brothers who will pay for the funeral notice of their nanny-photographer. They are the ones who will receive a phone call from a certain John Maloof who has acquired a nice bundle of photographs…
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Vue de Chicago. © Vivian Maier Courtesy of Maloof Collection
An exhibition on Vivian Maier is currently taking place at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris. The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper and the Musée de Pont-Aven will jointly host a photo exhibition from February 4 to May 29, 2022. New York and Chicago will be particularly represented at Quimper (Finistère) and Pont-Aven will focus on his self-portraits. 250 photos will be exhibited.
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