This spring, just seven years after her life’s work was sold out of storage lockers for $250 and five years after her nearly anonymous death, the Vivian Maier photography phenomenon is in robust bloom.
In case all this has somehow escaped you, here’s the short version: Vivian Maier was born in New York in 1926; spent a good chunk of her childhood in France, where her mother’s family lived; and supported herself most of her life as a live-in nanny. She had lived in New York, and was an experienced traveler, but from 1956 until her death in 2009, her old-fashioned Rolleiflex camera was primarily focused on Chicago and its northern suburbs, where she worked (employers included television host Phil Donahue). On days off, or with her charges in tow, she’d board the train from Highland Park or Wilmette and hit the city streets. Working mostly with 12-image rolls of film, she shot upwards of 150,000 pictures.
Both the documentaries and the books published so far promote the Mary-Poppins-with-a-camera enigma. But the BBC film (like a WTTW report that was among the first pieces of coverage) includes interviews with Pamela Bannos, a photographer and senior lecturer at Northwestern who specializes in historical projects. She says the nanny narrative, honed by men who control Maier’s legacy and “like a good story,” gives the photographer “short shrift.”
And another exhibit, “Vivian Maier—A Photographic Journey,” opens next month at the Art Center in Highland Park, where Maier, her Rollei hanging from her neck, was once a familiar figure.
Landmark’s Century Centre 2828 N. Clark 773-248-7759landmarktheatres.com
“Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows” Through 9/28: Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections 400 S. State 312-747-4300chipublib.org
“Vivian Maier’s Chicago” Chicago History Museum 1601 N. Clark 312-642-4600chicagohs.org
