Vivian Maier Street Photographer Book

[Texsport]

As a contributing supporter of the Vivian Maier project, I just received the newly published book.

My first impression is disappointment.

It contains no new really stunning pictures which haven't already been published.

I also find it rather dark and uninspiring, IMHO.

Bummer!

Texsport

PS I have had difficulty posting a reply, as every time I attempt to post a further explanation, I get an unauthorized message.

My comments concerning darkness, referred completely to the printed production of the photos. They are very dark, with no white highlights to be found, in the book. This is quite different from how the images appear, even over the internet.

I am in no way critical of the genius of Vivian Maier, having contributed to the cause of publishing her work.

I lived thru the 50s as a teenager, and it was not a dark time. Certainly the images presented to today's youth via T V and the internet are black by comparison.

I have examined the book twice, and am very disappointed in the production values, which are something equal to a Time/Life series volume. While some brilliant, but previously published images are present, too many "filler" images dilute the viewing experience.

Sadly, I have already assigned the book to a non-prominent shelf in my library.

 

[helen.HH]

Thanks for the heads up...Very SORRY to hear
I had wanted it and asked Santa to leave it under the Tree...

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

When you say "Dark and uninspiring", do you mean the photos are printed too dark in the book, or are you saying that they are (because of subject matter) depressing and pessimistic?

 

[Steve Bellayr]

In some respects I must agree with you but on the otherhand these images are excellent. I am in the processes of reviewing them and I find them excellent. I wish the book was larger with more images. Does the darkness refer to the printing or her vision? May I inquire as to your age? Did you live through the 1950's in America? As far as "darkness" is concerned to that era if you had lived through the 1950s it was a very dark era. For America, if I might diverge, it was 10 years of the Korean War, Cold War, Civil Rights, etc. The adults of that era had lived through a Depression and a World War and were now in another war, cold and hot. Organized crime was a given as was racial injustice. If you state that the images of that era were dark so was the era which lasted well into the 1970s.

 

[Dave Jenkins]

I was 13 in 1950 and 23 in 1960. The '50s did not seem at all a dark era to me. If you want to talk about a dark era, we're living in it.

 

[helen.HH]

I was 13 in 1950 and 23 in 1960. The '50s did not seem at all a dark era to me. If you want to talk about a dark era, we're living in it.

I Like that...LOL
ever soooo True about Today..dark Times Indeed

 

[Contarama]

Dark times was 1940-45 in Auschwitz or London or Dresden or Hiroshima folks...Vivian Maier was just a photographer who took snaps...and sad but true if it wasn't for a $400 auction purchase we wouldn't probably even be reading this thread...dark times is when thousands of negatives end up in a storage facility because no one cares and then they get auctioned off for peanuts and then they make thousands for someone who lucked onto them...

 

[Steve Bellayr]

Korean War? Civil Rights? Hiding under a desk? 52,000 dead in Vietnam? Murdered: Kennedy, King, Kennedy? Riots in almost every major city in America? Watt, Chicago, Detroit, NYC? Mafia, Hells Angels, KKK, Church bombing.? Etc., ect. Not dark? Maybe, it all depends where you were in the 1950s and 1960s. I could go on with polio, cataracks, and other diseases that today are curable but if the 1950's and 1960s were good times compared today...

 

[redisburning]

k can we keep the political chit-chat to a minimum at least until the OP clarifies?

I was interested in the book too but wont bite if the pictures are not printed well.

 

[gdmcclintock]

I have the book and I like it. It is not perfect; there are photographs I would not have included, but the vast majority are excellent.

 

[Contarama]

Vivian Maier was a heckuva chick...check out the latest issue of the Smithsonian magazine...I give kudos to the fellow who rescued her work but I strongly oppose anyone making a frigging fortune off of it...ESPECIALLY if they are going to make shoddy prints of it....

 

[Steve Bellayr]

The pictures are printed as well as any photo book that I have purchased. It is a dark image of the era but it is an era that was dark. I don't think that we are speaking about politics. I am not comparing today political situation to that of the 1950s and 1960s. I am just stating facts. There were 2 wars and many deaths and riots and the Civil Rights Movement as well as the Womens Movement. It was a time also that women were not admitted to Law Schools and Medical Schools. Personally, it is hard to have lived through that era and not visit theVietnam Memorial and recognize names of neighborhood kids that your grew up with. What was so good about the 1950s and 1960s? We must differentiate between the Political and the Socialogical. Page 113 was a common image of the Bowery in NYC in the 1960s and even where I lived it was not uncommon to see men like that on the streets.

 

[gdmcclintock]

Vivian Maier was a heckuva chick...check out the latest issue of the Smithsonian magazine...I give kudos to the fellow who rescued her work but I strongly oppose anyone making a frigging fortune off of it...ESPECIALLY if they are going to make shoddy prints of it....

There will be an exhibition of her work later this month at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York. Presumably the quality of the prints will be very high, and for sale.

 

[Contarama]

I'm just going to throw something out there and see what happens...back in Vivian's day if you were homosexual people would look the other way as long as you didn't make any waves as long as you were "polite" about it...wonder if this might be something about the darkness you all speak of???

It makes me frigging sick that a 400 dollar box of negatives that were almost forgotten are maybe being used to make some folks a rich profit... I sure hope ALL of the proceeds are going to something good whatever that may be...like to help repressed lesbians or something...

 

[Steve Bellayr]

I don't believe that we were speaking about homosexuality but that is another social issue that has changed and might I add for the better. We are discussing Vivian Maier's image of the world. Certainly we must consider her personal life style as it pertains to her vision of the world. Though she traveled she lived as a personal attendant to wealthy people's children working six days a week. As far as the sales of her work isn't that way of the world. She is not the only artist to enrich others after her (his) death.

 

[notraces]

I like the book very much. Many photos of my birthplace - Chicago. Also lots of nice NYC Images, too. I think I paid less than $30 for it on Amazon. Well worth it. Keep it on your Santa list, Helen!

 

[Pablito]

I sure hope ALL of the proceeds are going to something good whatever that may be...like to help repressed lesbians or something...

or, like, to end world hunger?

 

[Contarama]

I don't believe that we were speaking about homosexuality but that is another social issue that has changed and might I add for the better. We are discussing Vivian Maier's image of the world. Certainly we must consider her personal life style as it pertains to her vision of the world. Though she traveled she lived as a personal attendant to wealthy people's children working six days a week. As far as the sales of her work isn't that way of the world. She is not the only artist to enrich others after her (his) death.

Folks were mentioning the "darkness" in this book...I was only suggesting a possible angle to look at...I have no proof...Yeah $400 bucks for the previously unknown works of the basically unknown Vivian Maier was a bargain huh??? Yeah I bet her personal lifestyle had a heckuva lot to do with her photography...BTW I think her self portraits say a whole lot about her... 😉

No Pablito...something more useful than that...no one cares about hungry people...they never have...

 

[celluloidprop]

I'm a pinko's pinko and I've got no beef with Maloof profiting off his find. The guy has put countless hours of work into scanning the negatives (I know what a horror that is) and getting her work out there - he's essentially dedicated his life to it for the last year or two. He deserves a good living for that effort, if the market exists.

I don't think anyone needs to be concerned about Maier prints selling for absurd sums - posthumous prints from a very interesting but largely unknown street photographer?

I would like to see something worked out with a 20x200 or similar to offer a couple of her prints at prices mere mortals can afford. Maloof would still do well and it would be in the spirit of the find and her work, IMO.

 

[t.s.k.]

I have a feeling this is going to be a hot topic...

Darkness aside, I still want the book. Believe me, there will be many more to come.