Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Nanny Who Lived Secret Life as Street Photographer Featured in Exhibit

By Mary Johnson | December 19, 2011 7:41am
Howard Greenberg, of the Howard Greenberg Gallery, said that Maier took many self-portraits. This one dates to the 1950s.
Howard Greenberg, of the Howard Greenberg Gallery, said that Maier took many self-portraits. This one dates to the 1950s.
View Full Caption
Vivian Maier/Maloof Collection, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery

MIDTOWN EAST — Every woman has a secret. Vivian Maier’s was photography.

Maier, who died in 2009 at the age of 83, was never famous — not even close. She was born in New York City in 1926 but spent the bulk of her life in Chicago, working as a nanny and traveling fairly extensively, for a woman of limited means.

Through all of that, Maier almost always had a camera slung around her neck, but few people realized just what she was capturing as she photographed the streets of the Big Apple and the Windy City.

Now that's changing, thanks to a man named John Maloof who stumbled upon her collection of more than 100,000 negatives several years ago and is trying to give her work the exposure it never had.

Maier kept much of her life a mystery from those who knew her. This photograph was taken between 1954 and 1961.
Maier kept much of her life a mystery from those who knew her. This photograph was taken between 1954 and 1961.
View Full Caption
Vivian Maier/Maloof Collection, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery

Most recently, those efforts have brought him to Manhattan and the Howard Greenberg Gallery on East 57th Street, where an exhibition of some 60 photographs will be on display now through Jan. 28, 2012.

The photographs in the exhibit include images developed during her lifetime and those printed after her death, using the treasure trove of negatives.

They feature scenes on the streets of mid-century Manhattan and Chicago and capture seemingly innocuous moments with an artistic flair: an elegant woman in pearls, her head turned slightly to the side; a young boy wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears; a newspaper vendor catching a few winks on the job.

“She was a really good photographer. She made terrific photos,” said Howard Greenberg, founder of the gallery, who called Maier’s work "intelligent" and "intuitive."

“I discovered this world, this universe of Vivian Maier,” Greenberg added. “It’s hard to get out of your mind.”

Maier’s world is captivating in part because it is shrouded in mystery. Maloof bought her stockpile of negatives in 2007, when the contents of Maier’s storage locker were being sold at auction after she stopped making payments, according to a press release and Maloof’s blog.

Maloof had no idea what he was getting, but he became fascinated by what he found.

“I bought her same camera and took to the same streets soon to realize how difficult it was to make images of her caliber,” Maloof wrote on his blog. “I discovered the eye she had for photography through my own practice. Needless to say, I am attached to her work.”

When Maloof bought the photos, he didn’t know the woman behind them, not even her name. Then, two years after he acquired them, he found an envelope with "Vivian Maier" written on it.

That was enough for a Google search, which promptly turned up Maier’s obituary. She had died just a few days before.

But Maloof kept the project going, digging into her life to find out just who Maier was. She wasn't married and didn’t have any children. The only real attachments in her life seemed to be the children of one family she served as a nanny for in the 1950s and 1960s, according to reports.

They wrote Maier’s obituary and cared for her in her final days, but even they knew little about who she was beyond a “Mary Poppins”-esque caretaker. Maier rarely disclosed details about her private life, and few people ever glimpsed her photographs.

Maloof, who was not immediately available for comment, has edited a book of her photos, which was published recently, and he is currently working on a documentary to further dissect Maier’s life.

“[Who she was] remains a mystery,” Greenberg noted. “But it also remains a great motivator for staying with the photos.”

"Vivian Maier: Street Photographer" will be on display at the Howard Greenberg Gallery at 41 E. 57th Street from now until Jan. 28, 2012.