Vivian Maier Tribute, Part IV: The Interview

Interview with John Maloof, Excavator of the Vivian Maier Treasure Trove

[All images marked http://www.johnmaloof.com/ are photographic works by John Maloof;
final image marked http://www.davidschalliol.com/photography/4 is a photograph taken by David Schalliol; all other images are photographs taken by Vivian Maier, from http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/.]


Jessica Savitz: Do you believe it was your fate to find the photographs of Vivian Maier?

John Maloof: I can’t say I believe in fate. There have been several very coincidental circumstances that helped motivate me to acquire this archive and expose her work. Many of them seem to defy the odds.

JS: How has finding the Vivian Maier collection changed your life?

JM: In the most obvious way, I’m now a street photographer in charge of Maier’s legacy. That is a huge responsibility that I have been involved in for the past few years and see myself being involved in for years to come.

John Maloof, Chicago, 2010 http://www.johnmaloof.com/

JS: How extraordinary to locate an unknown master artist and to have that artist serve, posthumously, as your personal teacher as you execute your own experiments with street photography. How has Maier influenced you? What is your own photographic process like?

JM: Maier has taught me to be patient and pay attention to details. I can definitely say that my photography had started by mimicking her style. I'm now drifting toward the "decisive moment" photograph and away from the "intimate moment" type of photograph that I think Maier is known for.

John Maloof, NYC, 2010 http://www.johnmaloof.com/

JS: Have you attempted to revisit and perhaps recapture, from your perspective,
photographs taken by Maier from particular locales in the city?


John Maloof, Untitled, 2010 http://www.johnmaloof.com/

JM: I have, once. That was one of the first times I hit the streets with her inspiration. I've learned in the beginning, by copying Vivian's style, how difficult it is to create a good image.


John Maloof, Chicago, 2010 http://www.johnmaloof.com/

JS: What is it like to encounter a roll of mysterious film shot in the 1960s and wait for the photographs to be developed?

JM: I have them developed in batches if I don't do them myself. They are then sorted and scanned. It is always exciting to pick up a batch from the developer. You never know what is on those rolls. I don't have photographs printed from them.


JS: The poet Marvin Bell, after many years of taking photographs, discussed a rather philosophical turn in his craft—Marvin Bell: "First I stopped using film. I took the camera out, set it on a tripod, adjusted the swings and tilts and bellows and lens, and looked, but I took no pictures… I had learned to see as a photographer, which was of more moment to me than producing pictures to a frame." Since Maier left undeveloped 30-40,000 rolls of film, do you think photography for her was a sort of spiritual or meditative practice, or at the very least do you think she was almost entirely unattached to the results of her photographic endeavors enough not to need to develop the film? Was it a matter of money? Do you think her aspirations lay only in the process of taking the photographs, rather than producing them?

JM: Of course, I can't say for sure but, I think it was a matter of money but also, since she never really showed anyone her images, she must have taken photography as a personal hobby.

She had different points in her life where she had a darkroom. In the cases where she didn't, I would assume this is where the rolls began to build up.



JS: How do you think Vivian Maier’s Chicago is different from the Chicago of today?

JM: Chicago in the '50s and '60s was a different place. The fashion and the cars are the most noticeable differences of the time. Although many of the same buildings still stand today, the city has grown immensely since and changed the feel. The older brick and mortar structures now are nestled in with glass and steel. It just feels different.



JS: Where and who do you think she would fix her attention upon if she were taking photographs in this era?

JM: I'm not sure but, since her work spans from the '50s to the mid '90s (not long ago), I can guess that she'd be doing the same work. She loved children, older women, and people that I feel she thought of as interesting, such as the homeless.


JS: The street photographer must be brazen and super covert, all at once—how do you think Maier was received on the streets of Chicago? Do you think, besides the realm of Central Camera, she was a recognizable "fixture" on the Chicago streets, with her big hats and men’s coats and shoes?

JM: I would think so. Also, keep in mind that, as a woman, she would not have had aggressive reactions from people whom she took pictures of, especially taking pictures of children. If it were a male, I think there'd be a lot of resistance. People didn't seem to mind her taking their pictures. I haven't seen any photos with evidence to the contrary.

JS: Do you think her many years in Europe gave her an "outside edge"—the necessary remove to document a near-anthropological "study" of an American city?



JM: I'm still learning about Vivian's past. I can't say for sure that she was completely European, but, at this point, it seems likely. If that is the case, it would make sense that she would find the common everyday aspects of American life a bit different and interesting.

JS: What is her moving film like? Did she see herself as a documentarian?

JM: She documented the children she nannied for mostly. But, she also documented the Chicago streets. Many of the films are just her on what seem to be lone adventures with her camera, exploring the city—parades, the Chicago Stock Yards, demolition of notable Louis Sullivan architecture, the return of the Apollo crew, etc. I do think she found herself as a documentarian.



JS: It seems Vivian Maier would have had many cohorts had she been involved directly with the Institute of Design. She seems to have almost absorbed a lot of the stylistic tendencies of the "Chicago School" without actually having known, for example, Barbara Crane and Ray Metzker. Why do you think this is? Is there something fundamentally unusual about the light here in Chicago that breeds these brilliant photographic works, as Colin Westerbeck asserts?

JM: Vivian has many styles based on the work she produced. Although some of her images may seem to have influences from the Institute of Design as you noted, I'd argue that if you have a large enough body of work, you'll find coincidences as to many styles. Who knows, she may have been somewhat influenced after visiting an exhibition in Chicago but, I can only say that, living the life she did, I doubt there is any schooling or major influences on her work.


JS: From what we know, Maier was a self-taught photographer. Are there any recent developments in discovering more about her personal life and when and how she came to be interested in photography? Has anyone located any of Maier’s journals?

JM: Maier never kept journals, at least none were found in her passing. Not sure why but, perhaps her photography was the record that she felt important to document. There have been some very important discoveries in her history that reveal interesting insight to her possible spark into photography. Unfortunately, because we are working on the documentary film, I am not allowed to spoil the mystery ; )


JS: We can assume Maier might have witnessed important photographic exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago—such as Brassai (in 1955), Margaret Bourke-White (in 1956) or John Szarkowski (in 1960)— how familiar do you think she might have been with the works of these and other seminal photographers, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans and Robert Frank?

JM: She wasn't in Chicago until around 1956/57 so she wouldn't have seen the first two you mentioned. I know, based on the books she owned, that she was aware of notable photographers such as Lewis Hine, Berenice Abbott, Eugene Atget, etc. I assume she knew of Cartier-Bresson and the other as well.


JS: I wonder what a typical day in the life of Vivian Maier might have been. By sort of taking her emotional and aesthetic "temperature" through looking intently at her photographs, what sort of person do you imagine Vivian Maier to have been? Do you think you would have been friends?

JM: I know what type of person Vivian Maier was by now. I've met with many of the families she worked for and the description is the same with every family. She was a firm, strong, opinionated woman. She held herself well and was self-educated. I'm not sure if we'd have been friends. I'd definitely like to have been but, not sure if she'd let me in beyond small talk.

JS: I recently encountered the photographs of Gary Stochl; though he kept his work private for over four decades, he recently shared his work and received recognition for his photographs. What do you think Vivian would think about all of the recent attention given to her work?

JM: That is a question I'll never know the answer to. I ask that question all the time myself. I think her work is too important to keep in the dark for fear she may not have wished to expose it, though.


JS: I forget sometimes that the world was "in color" during time periods of such frequent use of black-and-white film and moving film. I tend to imagine the atmosphere surrounding people contingent upon the mediums they had at hand to document life; I think of my grandmother with her high-heels and hats and the downtown trolley as a little universe of black-and-white, and the world of my parents in the 1970s trimmed in white Polaroid borders. William Eggleston said, "The world is in color. And there is nothing we can do about that." Even if Maier had, at some point in her life, access to the tools to record life in color, it’s hard to imagine it suiting her style. Isn’t it hard to believe Chicago was "in color" when Maier shot her photographs? What do you think she would have done with color?

JM: Maier did work in color; I just haven't posted any of it yet. She started working in color in the '70s through the '90s. Keep an eye out for Nick Turpin's street photography magazine called PUBLICATION (UK based), which will feature some of Vivian's color work.

JS: Isn’t it eerie and lovely to imagine a Chicagoan recognizing the face of an aged family member in one of Maier’s photographs? Has anyone written to you with any such news?

JM: No news of anyone recognizing people in her photographs.

JS: There is such a thin membrane between artistic mediums, and painting and photography continually influence one another, and photography and moving film act upon one another as well. We know Maier loved the cinema, and you can see its influence upon her photography, which at times has a sort of film noir quality. Do you think her countless photographs, all together, would weave some sort of epic narrative? Do you sense an underlying "story" in her works?

JM: To be honest, I haven't even gone through all of her work yet. There is an immense amount of it. I can't make any conclusion on a narrative other than what can be seen posted so far.

JS: What sorts of Vivian Maier projects are currently in the works?

JM: Currently, a feature-length documentary film is in the works on this story; we are finding exciting twists and turns in this saga. A book by PowerHouse is in the process. Both of these are expected to be finished by the first half of next year. The Chicago Cultural Center will be exhibiting Maier's work early next year. So far, that is what I'm working on.

JS: What would you ask Vivian Maier if you could talk to her in person?

JM: I would ask her if she's okay with what I'm doing.

* * *

What an honor for the appraisers at MIR to evaluate the stunning works of Vivian Maier. Many thanks to John Maloof for his generous participation in the Maier series and interview.
Next week, to begin the month of June, we will post part one of an interview with photographer David Schalliol. Schalliol, a photographer and sociologist, masterfully photographs Chicago’s South and West Sides.

David Schalliol, from his Isolated Buildings Studies, http://www.davidschalliol.com/photography/4

* * *

The staff at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. seeks to fully understand the arts in their particular cultural contexts and to analyze relationships between various artistic mediums and genres; in this way we can broaden our expertise as art appraisers. We are located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

Interview by Jessica Savitz

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

Works Cited:
Bell, Marvin. A Marvin Bell Reader: Selected Poetry and Prose. Hanover: Middlebury College Press, 1994, 161, 216.
All images marked http://www.johnmaloof.com/ are photographic works by John Maloof; final image marked http://www.davidschalliol.com/photography/4 is a photograph taken by David
Schalliol. All other images are photographs taken by Vivian Maier, from http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/.

Alphonse Leon Quizet's Paintings in Montmartre

Alphonse Quizet was a pioneer to Modernism and an active member of the School of Montmartre. This group of artists wasn't an official school that exhibited together, but they learned from one another. In the early 20th century, Montmartre, France was the epicenter of the art world, and living there enabled Quizet to create works that have had a profound influence on art today. The Fauves, Nabis, Post-Impressionists, Cubists, and Surrealists all drew inspiration from Montmartre. Quizet never became a sole part of any of these movements, but you can see hints of the various style movements in his paintings.

Alphonse Quizet, Maison de Pantin, Mixed media/panel, c. Early 20th Century

Alphonse Quizet was born in Paris in 1885 and began his career as a draftsman for an architectural firm. This is where Quizet developed a keen eye for painting his architectural scenes. Quizet paintings are dominated by scenes of buildings which often times exhibit strong angles and almost exaggerated lines. These works would not have been possible if Quizet didn't have such a strong understanding of perspective. His paintings of buildings have excellent form and are always very balanced and true.

Quizet was exposed to extremely talented artists in Montmartre. One particular artist who Quizet grew a connection with was Maurice Utrillo who eventually became his protege. Quizet and Utrillo sold their works of art together and often times painted the same subject matter. In fact, Utrillo would even store some of his paintings at Quizet's home in Montmartre. Utrillo and Quizet paintings look extremely similar to one another and are often times mistaken for each other.

Maurice Urillo, La Rue Norvins a Montmartre, Oil/board, c. 1910

Quizet's paintings look very simplified in composition, but are very sophisticated in taste. The colors that he chooses to use in his works give off a unnerving sense of despair. The yellows, grays and off-whites never romanticize the scenes but create a sense of desolation, making them feel more alone. The deteriorating buildings and roads with sharp angles orchestrate a surreal feeling of emptiness. His urban scenes are often times busy with buildings, but rarely with people. There is little known about Quizet's personal life, however his pupil, Utrillo was very troubled. Perhaps Quizet may have used his works as a extension of his personality, like Utrillo did with his.

Alphonse Quizet received a number of awards and overall recognition while in Paris. He was made a member of the Salon d'Automne in 1926 and was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1931. Between 1907 and 1955, his work was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon Paris Moderne and the Salon des Tuilleries, and in addition to exhibiting in Sweden, Norway and Japan. Additionally in 1931, Quizet was awarded the Silver Medal at the International Exposition in Paris.

Quizet's paintings are in the collections of the Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, the Petit Palais, the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Musée du Luxembourg; also at museums in Copenhagen, Saint-Etienne, Le Havre, Grenoble and Philadelphia. His works also grace the walls of numerous galleries and homes. Quizet's influence and style will surely make his works collectible for generations to come. MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. has been fortunate to have researched and appraised various Quizet works in the past and would be more than happy to assist you in doing the same for selects items in your collection.

Researched and written by Robert Snell

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 814-8510

Works cited:
http://www.alonzakaim.com/?artist_id=215
http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?searchtype=BIO&artist=10069629
http://www.alonzakaim.com/?artist_id=215

Vivian Maier Tribute, Part III

[1]

INNER-ENVIRONS OF THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

Susan Sontag relates the shifts in perception concerning the role of the photographer in the early part of the 20th century, stating, “By the 1920s the photographer had become a modern hero, like the aviator and the anthropologist—without necessarily having to leave home.”[2] Yet the street photographer of the 1950s and 1960s is a more complex beast—not quite moral arbiter or social advocate or photojournalist—rather the street photographer owned a personality planted firmly in the murk of ambiguity.

Julien Levy characterized seminal street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work as “amoral photography, equivocal, ambivalent, anti-plastic, accidental photography.”[3]

We can appreciate, in this sense, Maier’s tenderness and empathy evident in her portraits of children and minorities,

and at the same time her somewhat menacing, voyeuristic presence, as the encroaching shadow of her hat confronts a sleeping sunbather in rollers on a beach towel, for example.

Or the craggy lady in cat-eye glasses, face aghast at Maier’s brazen documentation, with Diary of a Housewife emblazoned on the placard behind her.

This and other images of Maier’s photo subjects jolted into the self-awareness that they are in fact photographic subjects seem reminiscent of the obviously irritated expressions of the couple on the hill in Robert Frank’s iconic photograph San Francisco, 1956:

Frank remarked on this photograph—his “favorite photograph of all”—“It is an invasion of people in their private lives and they were just looking at the view. So was I.”[4]

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Conversation between Colin Westerbeck, associate curator of photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Joel Meyerowitz, master street photographer:

Westerbeck: Winogrand seemed to be happiest when he confronted a wall of humanity surging down the street. He threw himself into it.

Meyerowitz: Yes! It’s like going into the sea and letting the waves break over you. You feel the power of the sea. On the street each successive wave brings a whole new cast of characters. You take wave after wave. You bathe in it…[5]

Joel Meyerowitz

The nature of street photography, with its emphasis on informality, speed, randomness and anonymity perhaps created an open invitation for the fleetingness and anonymity of street photographers themselves. Eloquently stated by Colin Westerbeck, “The evanescence of the image might be thought of as reflecting the anonymity of the photographer himself.”[6]

Clive Scott remarks that the “staccato, jotted style” of the street photograph reflects the very walking patterns of street life.[7] Not only did Maier learn English from the movies; it also seems fitting that Maier, with her abiding love for the cinema, produced street photography specifically—its blurs, speed, repetition and serial images are so much a part of the movie aesthetic.

THE EVOLUTION OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Cinema further influences contemporary photographers such as Jeff Wall. In an interview with Els Barents, Wall discusses cinema as a “performing picture”, commenting, “I think that cinematography is aesthetically more developed than the more spontaneous photographic aesthetic, the one identified with Cartier-Bresson, for example. The reliance on immediate spontaneity thins out the image, reduces the level at which the permanent dialectic between essence and appearance operates in it.”[8] One can witness Wall’s staged “decisive moment” in works such as Mimic and Milk.

Jeff Wall, Milk

Michael Fried cites two other artists who have envisioned again the medium of street photography—Beat Streuli

Beat Streuli, Bruxelles Midi

and Philip-Lorca diCorcia, who implemented a novel use of flashlights and camera/radio signals on the street to highlight certain passersby—his own sort of “theatrical lighting.”[9]

Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Los Angeles

* * * *

Please visit our blog site again soon; next week, I will feature an interview with John Maloof, the marvelous excavator of the Maier treasure trove!

* * * *

The staff at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. seeks to fully understand the arts in their particular cultural contexts and to analyze relationships between various artistic mediums and genres; in this way we can broaden our expertise as art appraisers. We are located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

Researched and written by Jessica Savitz

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.

Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM

307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308

Chicago, IL 60601

(312) 814-8510

Foot notes/Works cited:

Brougher, Kerry. Jeff Wall. Los Angeles; The Museum of Contemporary Art, 1997.

Ferguson, Russell. Open City: Street Photographs Since 1950, New York: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2001.

Fried, Michael. Why Photography Matters As Art As Never Before. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Meyerowitz, Joel and Westerbeck, Colin. Bystanders: A History of Street Photography. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

Scott, Clive. Street Photography from Atget to Cartier-Bresson. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007.

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: The Noonday Press, 1973, 89-90.

John Maloof, from his blog: http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

http://www.artsjournal.com/man/2009/03/robert_frank_speaks_part_two.html

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[1] All Vivian Maier images from John Maloof’s blog http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

[2] Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: The Noonday Press, 1973, 89-90.

[3] Ferguson, Russell. Open City: Street Photographs Since 1950, New York: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2001, 10.

[4] http://www.artsjournal.com/man/2009/03/robert_frank_speaks_part_two.html

[5] Meyerowitz, Joel and Westerbeck, Colin. Bystanders: A History of Street Photography. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994. Preface, conversation.

[6] Meyerowitz 35.

[7] Scott, Clive. Street Photography from Atget to Cartier-Bresson. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007, 3.

[8] Brougher, Kerry. Jeff Wall. Los Angeles; The Museum of Contemporary Art, 1997, 35-6.

[9] Fried, Michael. Why Photography Matters As Art As Never Before. New Haven: Yale University Press, 252-254.

Jules Herve's French Impressionism

Jules Herve was a French artist who simply wanted people to see beauty in the world through his perspective. He wasn't an artist who used his paintings to promote an ideology or conception. The most important aspect to Herve was to merely create an aesthetically beautiful work of art. Herve's use of color, subject matter, atmosphere and energy were all essential to his development as a French Impressionist.

Since an early age, Jules Herve always knew that he wanted to be an artist. Herve used this passion to enroll in evening art classes while he was young. Once Herve moved to Paris he went to the School of Decorative Arts where he began to exhibit in the Paris Salons. Eventually, Herve won numerous medals for his paintings in Paris; a silver medal at the Salon des Artistes Francais, a gold medal for his work related to the traveling scholarship he received from the French government, and prizes for both the Belle Table and Leguay. All these accolades led to his eventual election as Vice President to the Salon des Artistes Francais and a member of the jury to the Society of French Artists. Jules Herve was able to do this without changing his style to outside pressures and staying true to himself as an artist.

When looking at Herve's works, it is evident that modern Paris was his muse for his many Parisian streetscapes, waterways, gardens and interiors. Surrounded by magnificent architecture and lively Parisian streets, Jules Herve was able to capture this beauty through his paintings. His flowing brushstrokes would parallel Paris' energy and grandeur. Herve's Parisian scenes look alive with his brilliant use of radiant light and color. Like the classic French Impressionists, Herve would use color to harmonize his paintings. The colors would create the atmosphere in his works, which would then magnify the pace of movement. Sometimes his brushstrokes were more flowing and energized to enhance the vibrant mood of his work. While others have more subdued brushstrokes which make the mood and energy far more relaxed. Herve had a very good grasp on creating these emotions through his brushstrokes and colors.

Jules Herve was fascinated with the high class bourgeois society in Paris. He would often paint patrons going to the Opera house, or strolling down on of Paris' beautiful boulevards. Herve never used his paintings to make commentary about social issues, rather it was the fashion of the haute bourgeois society which was intriguing to Herve. These fashionistas gave a modern flavor to the urban environments which Herve would paint, giving his works a better visual appeal.

Jules Herve chose to work primarily alone without being influenced from outside artist and movements. His choice of solitude proved that Herve was comfortable in his own style and was unimpressed with the new artistic styles which were going on. Herve may not have gained a lot of inspiration from the artists who were painting during his time, however he was very influenced by some of the Impressionist masters who proceeded him. Herve also produced a collection of works which showed the dancers of the ballet. The angles, style and subject matter suggest that these works were done to pay homage to Degas.

Jules Herve's works are shown in museums throughout the world. His paintings are highly collectible and very well represented at auction houses and galleries. The beautiful nature of his paintings make them very adaptable to any environment. This reason will continue to make paintings by Jules Herve extremely desirable for generations to come. The appraisers and researchers at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. are proud to have researched and evaluated a variety of Herve's works and would relish the opportunity to assist new clients with their art-related concerns.

Researched and written by Robert Snell

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 814-8510

Works cited:

http://www.rwfinearts.com/?level=album&id=20

http://www.fada.com/browse_by_artist.html?gallery_no=30&artist=3306&bio=1

http://www.artnet.com/Artists/ArtistHomePage.aspx?artist_id=21267&page_tab=Bio_and_link

Vivian Maier Tribute, Part II

“LIFE IN THE QUICK”

There is a register of simple beauty and jubilation in many of the photographs of Vivian Maier—a woman’s head flung back in all-consuming laughter [1];

two gentlemen in bow ties head towards a light flirtation with a pretty lady near a cigar stand;

two older twin ladies turn away from one another with identical hands raised in a sort of double-personal declaration;

rows of daisies and rows of ladies with their hats.

We sense her gentle ironies and tensions—the young man on the motorcycle stalled as an aged lady swings her walker forward to make her way across an intersection.

Yet a thread of disconcerting complexity tempered with aesthetic magnificence runs through most of her work—the mother with the cigarette menacingly close to the boy’s crying face.

There’s a film noir quality to her heady juxtaposition of light and shadow, as in the two figures mysteriously pressed behind Venetian blinds,

or the glorious shots of rather monstrous, “confrontational” Chicago buildings.

As a body of work, we encounter “life in the quick”[2] in Chicago’s 1950s and 1960s; ladies with their stoles and ornate hats, heels and corsaged collie,

Midnight Cowboy decorates the movie placard, “men must change or die” spray-painted on a mailbox,

the uncanny juxtaposition of human sentiment and environmental decay—the laughing woman tragically foregrounding a demolition scene,

tensions between the encroaching city and the old ways of life—the hints of the primitive natural kingdom—vagabonds with their rubbish and grins, a man hovers near timber-like, rotted heap of materials,

a child pokes at a fire on the city street.

There is a sense of primitive wildness in the edges of human activity that we perhaps don’t see so blatantly anymore in the city proper.

One senses a strange spiritual energy in her work at times—a mother clasps her coat against an ominous prairie wind as she pushes a stroller filled with hay, while the displaced child walks seriously alongside, and two mysterious black spheres drift in the sky.

Top-notch portraiture of descendents clinging to one of the ancients.

STRANGERS TO MAIER, NEVERTHELESS HER ARTISTIC “ACCOMPLICES” ON THE STREET

Maier’s photographs are masterful, poetic, and feel already like classics; it’s as if a seminal book, for half a century lost, has returned to its proper place on the shelf alongside its rightful companions. It seems Maier’s work has been in a private conversation all these years with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s visual symphonies of movement:

Brassai’s seductive wedding of light and dark:

The slack and grave expressions in many of Walker Evans’ subway portraits:

Robert Frank’s alienated Americans,

Garry Winogrand’s sharp, glorious energies:

And William Eggleston’s foreboding sense of the ordinary:

Maier seemed to absorb the ethos of the so-called “Chicago School”[3], perhaps magically influenced by the masterful works of Barbara Crane:

and Ray Metzker.

She imbibed the spirit of the Institute of Design without actually attending the school, perhaps because shadows and light were democratically available for all to witness; in the words of Westerbeck:

“The flatness of the prairie to the west is just a mirror image of the flatness of the lake to the east; between the two, the city is perfectly cross-ventilated with light of an incomparable clarity and forcefulness, which is what the street photography of the Chicago School is really documenting.”[4]

* * * *

Please visit our blog site again soon; next week, I will feature an interview with John Maloof, the marvelous excavator of this Maier treasure trove!

The staff at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. seeks to fully understand the arts in their particular cultural contexts and to analyze relationships between various artistic mediums and genres; in this way we can broaden our expertise as art appraisers. We are located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for an evaluation of your most prized works of art.

Researched and written by Jessica Savitz

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.

Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM

307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308

Chicago, IL 60601

(312) 814-8510

Foot notes/Works Cited:

Meyerowitz, Joel and Westerbeck, Colin. Bystanders: A History of Street Photography. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

Scott, Clive. Street Photography from Atget to Cartier-Bresson. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007, 3.

John Maloof, from his blog: http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

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[1] All images of Maier’s work from John Maloof’s blog, http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

[2] Scott, Clive. Street Photography from Atget to Cartier-Bresson. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007, 3.

[3] Meyerowitz, Joel and Westerbeck, Colin. Bystanders: A History of Street Photography. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994, 365.

[4] Ibid 372.