E. B White’s ,
Here Is New York,
has one of the best openings ever,
On any person who desires such queer prizes, New York will bestow the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy.
Yep, the urban experience,
in all it’s splendor and despair.
I quote White,
not only because I like,
his work,
I do,
but,
mostly because I think,
it gives insight,
into the world of,
Vivian Maier.
Who you might think,
is Vivian Maier??
Well, if you aren’t,
a photographer,
or a street photographer junkie,
chances are,
you never heard of her.
I hadn’t,
until,
yesterday,
through a friend’s,
link on face book.
I’m so glad I did,
her stuff is as good,
as Diane Arbus’
or Nan Goldin’,
in my opinion,
up there,
with Cartier-Bresson,
and,
Walker Evans,
I’m not exagerrating,
this is the opinion,
of a good portion,
of the international,
photography community.
Her story is an incredible one.
Vivian Maier,
was an intensely,
private person.
Born in 1926 in New York city,
spent much of her childhood,
in France,
returned to New York City,
in 1951,
at the age of 25.
By 1956,
she had moved to Chicago,
and,
for the next 40 years,
she was a nanny.
She took,
over her lifetime,
more than 100, 000,
photographs,
most of which,
remained,
undeveloped negatives.
In 2007,
John Maloof,
bought from a Chicago auction house,
a box ,
big box,
full of negatives,
no-one knew,
of this woman,
of her work.
The box was from ,
a storage locker,
whose contents,
had been sold,
for non-payment.
By the time Maloof,
pieced together who,
this photographer was,
Ms Maier had died,
and what he found,
was an obituary.
Maloof set about learning,
all he could,
about this unknown artist.
He brought her work,
to light.
A gigantic body of work,
that included,
along with the 100,000 negatives,
700 rolls of colour film,
home movies,
in both 8 and 16 m.
Enough to keep,
a curator,
busy for a long time.
He published a book,
and for the last few years,
has been making,
a documentary,
the documentary will be premiering,
at TIFF(The Toronto International Film Festival)
both the book and film poster,
have a self-portrait,
of Vivian,
adorning them.
One of the young women,
who she cared for in her,
work as a nanny,
described Vivian this way:
She was a Socialist, a Feminist, a movie critic, and a tell-it-like-it-is type of person. She learned English by going to theaters, which she loved. She wore a men’s jacket, men’s shoes, and a large hat most of the time. She was constantly taking pictures, which she didn’t show anyone.[6]
An intensely private person,
and,
yet,
in order to take,
the kind of pictures,
she took,
she must have,
communicated something,
pure and simple and real,
human,
to her subjects.
I don’t know this,
I’m assuming,
but,
I get a dyke vibe,
from Vivian.
Go look at her work
at
https://www.artsy.net/artist/vivian-maierhttp://www.vivianmaier.com/
and,
http://vivianmaier.blogspot.ca/
and watch the trailer of the film,
at,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2o2nBhQ67Zc
I think you will be as fascinated,
as I have found myself to be.
Her pictures,
especially,
her,
portraits,
are haunting,
as my good friend, Ken,
said,
she is a photography God.
The photographs where,
her shadow,
appears,
wow.
I.
can’t help,
but,
wonder,
what she would think,
of all this attention.
But, this isn’t,
about posthumous privacy,
if such a thing exists,
it’s about,
art.
Later girls,
BB