Tampa Bay Artist Photographer Amy Martz Blog: Who is Vivian Maier?

Although she is unknown to many, Vivian Maier is by far one of the best street photographers of all time. Vivian was first discovered when an unsuspecting local Chicago historian, John Maloof, purchased over 100,000 negatives while at a furniture and antique auction looking for research. Approximately 20-30,000 negatives from the 1960's-1970's were still in undeveloped rolls of film. Weeks of developing and scanning the negatives would give clues to the life of this mysterious photographer. He knew what she looked like because she took many self portraits. But who was she?

Vivian Maier taking her Self Portrait in a mirror

Self Portrait of Vivian Maier

He found a name, Vivian Maier, written with pencil on a photo-lab envelope. About a year later, he decided to Google her only to find her obituary was placed the day before his search. The mystery continued.

What was not a mystery was the intriguing nature of Vivian's work. She was an incredible photographer. The historian tried to emulate her photographs going to the same spots as Vivian with the same camera, quickly realizing that the images she captured were of exceptional skill and very difficult to reproduce.

She often took photographs of children by a beach. The historian ascertained that Vivian was a nanny. He writes the following about her on his blog:

Vivian came here from France in the early 1930's and worked in a sweat shop in New York when she was about 11 or 12. She was not Jewish but a Catholic, or as they said, an anti-Catholic. 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.

John Maloof, the unsuspecting historian who uncovered one of the best photographers in history, has since written a book about Vivian Maier.

Go see her work! Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows is now being exhibited at Tampa's awesome Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. My husband, daughter and beloved friends went last night to check it out. It was so amazing seeing her work on display.

You can also check out her work on the original Vivian Maier blog or the official Vivian Maier website. Below is just a very small sample of her brilliance. Photos are Copyright Protected by Maloof Collection, LTD.