A lot has been said about who she was, how she was discovered, how she worked, how incredibly smart and such a wonderful businessman her discoverer,John Maloof, is, but one thing remains, Vivian Maier was a true artist, working hard, in the shadows of her anonymity, assembling an incredible body of work throughout her active years, from New York City, to Chicago, Paris and all the places she’s been with her 6×6 Rolleiflex. I saw her colour work in FOAM a bit more than a year ago as reported here. My good friend Thierry gave her the place she deserves in two of his marvellously carved chronicles here and here. This time, le Musée du Luxembourg gives her a space of choice in Paris. A walk through her evolution, from her large body of self-portraits, to her street photography, more graphic work, portraits of her contemporaries, children, films. In small rooms packed with mainly female visitors, we can admire her work in posh and large recent prints, hung vis a vis some original vintage prints and several contact sheets, giving us an impression of her ways of working. Discreet, often invisible, relatively frugal in her way of telling a story, she paid attention to details: a tie hanging straight here, an expression there, a shoe, a shadow. With a photographic writing style unique to her, Vivian Maier deserves a place in the sun, side by side the greatest street photographers of the past century.
