Vivian Maier

Description

A full-career retrospective on the work of Vivian Maier, bringing together a selection of key works from throughout her life and career. When Vivian Maier's archive was discovered in Chicago in 2007, the photography community gained an immense and singular talent. Maier lived in relative obscurity until her death in 2009, but is now the subject of films and books, and recognized as one of the great American photographers of the 20th century. Born in New York in 1926, she worked as a nanny in New York and Chicago for much of her adult life. It was during her years as a nanny that she took many of the photographs that have made her posthumously famous. Maier's incredible body of work consists of more than 150,000 photographic images, Super 8 and 16 mm films, various recordings and a multitude of undeveloped films. Working primarily as a street photographer, Maier's work has been compared with such luminaries as Helen Levitt, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus and Joel Meyerowitz. Drawing on previously unpublished archives and recent scientific analyses, this retrospective sheds new light on Maier's work. With texts by Anne Morin and Christa Blumlinger, this thorough look at Maier's entire archive is organized thematically in sections that cover self-portraits, the street, portraits, gestures, cinematography, children, colour work and forms. A valuable addition to the continuing assessment of Maier's work, this book is a one-volume compendium of her most enduring images.

Anne Morin is the director of diChroma Photography in Madrid. Christa Blumlinger teaches cinematography at the University of Paris VIII, specializing in documentary cinema and the avant-garde. Ann Marks is a writer and Vivian Maier's biographer. She lives in New York.

'Eloquent testimony to a sui generis photographer of the first order. Marks ... keeps to fascinating facts without succumbing to mythmaking' - Eye of Photography 'Hugely recommended' - Amateur Photographer 'Not only a wonderful showcase of a brilliant photographer, it is also a biography an in-depth critical appraisal of her work ... invites the reader to a greater understanding and appreciation' - Black + White Photography 'For those who want sheer retinal pleasure' - Shelf Awareness 'What makes this new publication worthy of collecting is the wide array of images not only from Maier's black and white street portraits shot with her Rolleiflex in the 1950s and 60s ... but also the addition of images from later-day 35mm color images and cinematic efforts' - PhotoBook Journal '[An] incisive survey... highlighting [Maier's] discerning eye for composition and knack for finding beauty in the mundane ... Insightful and appreciative, this celebrates the unique perspective of a luminous artist' - Publishers Weekly 'A book as rich and complexly layered as the artist herself' - Huck 'Highlights Maier's fearlessness ... [Her photographs are] marked by authenticity and a hunger-driven frankness for the visual glory of life' - Musee Magazine 'A meticulously reproduced and well-paced retrospective collection of the Nanny Photographer's best images' - Rangefinder 'While Maier's background and rise to prominence is fascinating, her story is really all about the photos, and this excellent book certainly does them justice' - Digital Camera