While in Chicago earlier this January for the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, I had the good fortune to travel up to the Chicago History Museum in Lincoln Park before the epic snowstorm hit. While I've long been interested in Chicago history - my family has long-time roots in the Windy City - I had an agenda at the CHM, to both visit my friend Ellen (who is the head research librarian there!) as well as see a special exhibition on the photographer Vivian Maier.
Undated Photograph
Vivian Maier (1926-2009 was similar to another now-famous Chicagoan, the artist Henry Darger, in that she was little-known during her lifetime despite being extremely prolific, and only has become increasingly popular since her death. Born in NYC, raised in France, and settled in Chicago, she worked as a nanny in the North Shore area and in her spare time photographed the streets and people of Chicago, documenting its history as she went along. Though she traveled and photographed other parts of the world (as far away as Yemen and Thailand!), her Chicago work resonated particularly strongly for me, as it was in the 1960s, when she was most prolific, that my mother (who was then slightly younger than I am now) was living and working in Chicago. Maier witnessed - and photographed - many of the historical events in Chicago that had lasting effects on the city and our country. This was the same Chicago witnessed by my mother that I grew up hearing about, from the Race Riots to the 1968 Democratic National Convention - all of these events resonated in the simple everyday images of the people and neighborhoods that make up Chicago, documented by Vivian Maier.
Undated Photograph, Chicago
Self-Portrait, 1955
I was also quite taken with the self-referencial quality of many of Maier's photographs. She included herself in many of her images, but as more than just a self-portrait: often she chose to depict herself reflected in a mirror, or as a shadow. But always, she was an integral part of the composition and thus part of the narrative that she created through making images.
The exhibition at the CHM is small - just one room - but quite powerful and moving. Prints are arranged uniquely: rather than framed on the wall, large prints are suspended from the ceiling, so that one must weave in and out of the small space and is directly confronted with the images. In addition, a number of series of small prints line the walls , each image thematically relevant and often from the same roll or rolls of film. Through these, we can trace the production of her images. Since much of her work was not printed until after her death (over 700 rolls of film were undeveloped when historian John Maloof discovered her work in 2007), it seems appropriate to display sections of her photography in this manner, mimicking the way contact sheets are laid out in order for the photographer to make choices about which images to print.
I'm delighted to learn that the exhibition, which was scheduled to close the weekend after my visit, has now been extended to Summer 2014 - so there's plenty of time for you to check it out! Also in the works is a documentary film (see link to the trailer below), which also promises to open our eyes even more to this now-known artist.
Sources for further reading:
Vivian Maier Photographer (official website) (the above images are from this site)
Finding Vivian Maier (official documentary trailer)
Wikipedia entry, with references to exhibitions
Vivian Maier: The Unheralded Street Photographer (Smithsonian Magazine article)
flickr slideshow, from the Chicago History Museum
The exhibition at the CHM is small - just one room - but quite powerful and moving. Prints are arranged uniquely: rather than framed on the wall, large prints are suspended from the ceiling, so that one must weave in and out of the small space and is directly confronted with the images. In addition, a number of series of small prints line the walls , each image thematically relevant and often from the same roll or rolls of film. Through these, we can trace the production of her images. Since much of her work was not printed until after her death (over 700 rolls of film were undeveloped when historian John Maloof discovered her work in 2007), it seems appropriate to display sections of her photography in this manner, mimicking the way contact sheets are laid out in order for the photographer to make choices about which images to print.
I'm delighted to learn that the exhibition, which was scheduled to close the weekend after my visit, has now been extended to Summer 2014 - so there's plenty of time for you to check it out! Also in the works is a documentary film (see link to the trailer below), which also promises to open our eyes even more to this now-known artist.
Sources for further reading:
Vivian Maier Photographer (official website) (the above images are from this site)
Finding Vivian Maier (official documentary trailer)
Wikipedia entry, with references to exhibitions
Vivian Maier: The Unheralded Street Photographer (Smithsonian Magazine article)
flickr slideshow, from the Chicago History Museum
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