The 8mm Films of Vivian Maier
Good morning readers, it’s finally the weekend ! Thank you for your overwhelming support this week and for coming back to read all the articles we have shared with you. I wanted to share something a little different today, since it’s the weekend and most of you have probably all had a busy week, perhaps you would like to take a moment out of your day to watch these beautiful moving clips captured on 8mm film by the incredible Vivian Maier. If you haven’t already seen the documentary Finding Vivian Maier I have linked to the DVD right here, it’s a really incredible story of discovery.
In fact, since publishing this post, two of our very kind readers gave us the link to a very interesting documentary, that perhaps wasn’t as widely publicized but definitely worth a watch. The documentary is called BBC Imagine (2013) Vivian Maier – Who Took Nanny’s Pictures, which was broadcast by the BBC in 2013, before the documentary Finding Vivian Maier was in fact released.
These fragile, observational clips uncover Vivian Maier’s largely unseen experimentation with film. The New York-born photographer spent 40 years working as a nanny in Chicago, simultaneously fostering a secret passion for image-making that led her to document the urban life of America, enjoying her productive peak in the 50s and 60s. “Vivian saw details that pass us by in everyday life,” says director, curator and the primary caretaker of Maier’s oeuvre, John Maloof. When the photographer died in 2009 aged 83, the tens of thousands of images that she amassed during her lifetime were only just beginning to be discovered. After winning a bid for 30,000 of Maier’s negatives in a Chicago auction house in 2007, it took six months for Maloof to realize the importance of what he had purchased. “Little by little, I realized that the work was great,” he says. “Maier should wedge right in with the best photographers of her time, such as Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Lisette Model and Helen Levitt.” Next week, Finding Vivian Maier premieres at Toronto Film Festival. Directed by Maloof and Charlie Siskel, the documentary sheds light on the discovery of Maier’s hidden archive and slowly unravels her touching story. “She had few friends, never had a family of her own, and moved from place to place,” says Siskel. “There was little that was consistent in life; the one constant was her photography. With that, she never compromised.”
Text taken directly from Nowness
There’s another really great film about Vivian Maier, “The Vivian Maier Mystery.” Very different, a really fascinating look at her work! http://www.vivianmaiermysterymovie.com
Thank you so much for sharing that with us Paul, Is that the BBC one ? I think a friend just recommended that to us today as well, I will have to include it for other readers! Thank you again for the heads up and thank you for stopping by to read our blog !