finding vivian maier

See it and take the family if you'd like. Saw it last night in Highland Park Il....SEE IT.

It's great that this and Everybody Street are shedding light on photography...Love the words by Meyerowitz to....I got it the first time that Maloof doesn't like the gallery/art world....
 
NY_Dan said:
From the official site http://www.vivianmaier.com/frequently-asked-questions/

"Vivian Maier’s first camera was a modest Kodak Brownie box camera with one shutter speed, no aperture and focus control. In 1952 she purchased her first Rolleiflex camera. Over the course of her career she used Rolleiflex 3.5T, Rolleiflex 3.5F, Rolleiflex 2.8C, Rolleiflex Automat and others. She later also used a Leica IIIc, an Ihagee Exakta, a Zeiss Contarex and various other SLR cameras."

And mostly Tri-X or Ektachrome...

There's a funny scene in the movie where Maloof visits a relative of VM's in the French town and is shown a print of VM's and VM's mother's box camera and Maloof vibrates with desire to add these items to his treasure trove -- can't blame him 🙂
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About 24/25 minutes
http://interactive.wttw.com/jayschicago/vivian-maier-special#.U0FwPSiSJkc
 
Plan on seeing this movie. Requested April 11th off a month ago. Just waiting for San Francisco Clay Theatre and/or Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley to release show times.
 
Would have been nice to meet you, but we're heading north to Moose Lake for a grandaughter's birthday party. And bummed to miss out on seeing film.
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Maybe when you have time we can meet. Just e mail me. It would be nice, especially since it's getting warmer!

Thanks!
 
tumblr_n3o2zcgv9l1r916qao1_1280.jpg


View of IFC Theater, Greenwich Village NYC.
 
chambrenoire said:
Seen the online preview, great documentary! I prefer it to the BBC one that came out last year
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NY_Dan said:
...How the art world digests all this is an ongoing topic of conversation. Mary Poppins? Hardly...
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I thought the BBC documentary was very good and if this one is better it should be excellent — Anthony Lane gave it a good review in the New Yorker, although, in my view, he overrates her as an artist. While the story of Vivian Maier is interesting in terms of entertainment, and agreeing that she's no Mary Poppins, I don't think much of her work as art in the context of the great photographers in her time. Rather than arguing this position, I'll just quote the view of Jörg Colberg, which you can read in his rather interesting blog article, In Defense of Merit:

"I can’t help but feel that in the world of photography the idea of artistic merit has receded quite a bit over the past decade or so…when I see something that’s uplifting or edgy or provocative, or when I see something that I know is just being lauded for the great story, while the pictures are clearly lacking…Then that’s either essentially just entertainment…Think Vivian Maier: Now there’s a great story. But the images don’t even remotely hold up to what so many already well known photographers from the same period were doing. In fact, I stopped looking at any of the Maier coverage, because the majority centers on the story itself or any of the other talking points, about which literally have nothing to do with photography.'

MITCH ALLAND/Potomac, MD
Download links for book project pdf files
Chiang Tung Days
Tristes Tropiques
Bangkok Hysteria
Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems
 
malland said:
I thought the BBC documentary was very good and if this one is better it should be excellent — Anthony Lane gave it a good review in the New Yorker, although, in my view, he overrates her as an artist. While the story of Vivian Maier is interesting in terms of entertainment, and agreeing that she's no Mary Poppins, I don't think much of her work as art in the context of the great photographers in her time. Rather than arguing this position, I'll just quote the view of Jörg Colberg, which you can read in his rather interesting blog article, In Defense of Merit:

"I can’t help but feel that in the world of photography the idea of artistic merit has receded quite a bit over the past decade or so…when I see something that’s uplifting or edgy or provocative, or when I see something that I know is just being lauded for the great story, while the pictures are clearly lacking…Then that’s either essentially just entertainment…Think Vivian Maier: Now there’s a great story. But the images don’t even remotely hold up to what so many already well known photographers from the same period were doing. In fact, I stopped looking at any of the Maier coverage, because the majority centers on the story itself or any of the other talking points, about which literally have nothing to do with photography.'

MITCH ALLAND/Potomac, MD
Download links for book project pdf files
Chiang Tung Days
Tristes Tropiques
Bangkok Hysteria
Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems
Click to expand...

I have a different take. When I first saw her photographs, I was stunned. I particularly was impressed with her portraiture. I just assumed she was well known and had been for decades. And then I learned her backstory.

So I cannot say, personally, that knowing her story colored my opinion of her work because in fact the opposite was true. Her work stood on its own merit.

To each his or her own, of course. If you don't find her work impressive, that's fine. But I would hope that's not because you've grown tired of the hype surrounding her "discovery."
 
Where are some who mocked HCB as well. Who cares about their opinion....
The general public have spoken by admitting in crowds.
Not for the story, but to enjoy the photography of Vivian Maier's.
 
malland said:
I'll just quote the view of Jörg Colberg, which you can read in his rather interesting blog article, In Defense of Merit:

"I can’t help but feel that in the world of photography the idea of artistic merit has receded quite a bit over the past decade or so…when I see something that’s uplifting or edgy or provocative, or when I see something that I know is just being lauded for the great story, while the pictures are clearly lacking…Then that’s either essentially just entertainment…Think Vivian Maier: Now there’s a great story. But the images don’t even remotely hold up to what so many already well known photographers from the same period were doing. In fact, I stopped looking at any of the Maier coverage, because the majority centers on the story itself or any of the other talking points, about which literally have nothing to do with photography.'
Click to expand...

I don't know. Colberg never seemed to me particularly keen on street photography of any vintage anyway. In this case, my gut feeling is he's also wrong about the reason people look at Maier's work. It is primarily driven by interest in the photography and then all the other brouhaha. It may be interest in a different sort of photography than he's drawn to, but it's interest nonetheless. For example,

...“Contemporary photography is popular, but we find 20th-century classics have an even bigger appeal,” says Damien Whitmore, director of public affairs and programming at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. Its most popular photography shows in the past ten years (paid entry) have been “The Art of Lee Miller” (2007-08; 78,946), “Diane Arbus: Revelations” (2005-06; 75,673) and “Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton” (2012; 67,630)...
(http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Mass-exposure-why-museums-are-focusing-on-photography/32219)

The bigger problem Colberg refers to, i.e. the collapse of "merit" in the art world, is more to do with a kind of pluralism sanctioning all manner of questionable/trite creation, insofar as it is presented in the garb of irony. Maier is not relevant in that regard, internet fame and what not. His foray into elitism is quite unnecessary too. For the purpose he champions, one does not need more self-anointed gurus of excellence, but a change of the broad mental framework motivating art.

.
 
Alkis, interesting metrics; but I would assume that the visitors to the MOMA "New Photography" exhibition would, on the average, be quite different in terms of the type of photography they are interested in from the audience for the V&A shows mentioned in your linked article. Not quite sure of the significance of this, except but could it be that the V&A visitors might be expected to be more positive about Maier's photography than those that saw the MOMA New Photography show?

MITCH ALLAND/Potomac, MD
Download links for book project pdf files
Chiang Tung Days
Tristes Tropiques
Bangkok Hysteria
Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems
 
I'm of the opinion that there's a much broader spectrum of photography than what's acknowledged or promoted by the academic and gallery perspectives, of which Vivian Meier belonged to neither camp.

However, that's not to say she was entirely naive or photographically illiterate, in the way that true outsider art typically is found. It is known that she had a large library of photographic books, went to libraries and gallery shows and evolved her style over time. She also dabbled in experimental film. She was self-educated. Which, for me, qualifies her work as worthy of consideration, since she was obviously serious and intent enough upon pursuing her craft, above and beyond the mere casual snapshot motif, so as to inform her images with some degree of intelligence.

Like many of us for whom photography does not pay the rent, she had to fit her creative life around the realities of survival, and within the context of her peculiar personality. Does her life represent unfulfilled potential? Certainly - as does mine. But what she did create is certainly worthy of consideration.

~Joe
 
Wow, tough crowd. Her work certainly fits in fine with her contemporaries. I guess some of you think Mary Ellen Mark and Joel Meyerowitz (who praise her work in this film) don't know what they are talking about either.
 
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