The Lost and Found Photos of Vivian Maier

I came across this story by clicking through a bunch of links on Twitter, and now can’t remember the tweet source, but what I found stuck with me. From the 1950s through the 1990s, Chicago nanny Vivian Maier took over 100,000 photos of Chicago streetlife.

Her negatives were auctioned off to Jeff Goldstein at a furniture and antique auction. Goldstein says, “From what I know, the auction house acquired her belongings from her storage locker that was sold off due to delinquent payments. I didn’t know what ‘street photography’ was when I purchased them.”

Goldstein kept returning to her work as his own interest in photography started to grow, and he eventually tried to look for Maier - only to find an obituary notice that said she had passed away just a few days earlier.

Maier’s photos, many of people, are so evocative of a lost world. Plus I think it’s brave to figure out how to secretly or not-so-secretly take a photo that shows people as they really are. That’s when faces look most interesting. (All photos from http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com).

Comments

[Elaine]

Fascinating--what a great find! And I agree with the insights in your last paragraph.