Object of Lust

Or should I say Images of lust...
Vivian Maier

In 2007 a young estate agent went to a Chicago auction and bought a box of negatives, his name was John Maloof and the photographers was Vivian Maier. Back in the 1950's everyone would have regarded Maier as a nanny. Now she is regarded as one of the greatest street photographers of her day.

I began following John Maloof and reading his blog about her. He's been doing his research and I'm so happy that thanks to him, we all get to discover more about such an interesting woman and talent that would have otherwise been lost, blown away through the streets of the windy city.

She arrived from France to America in the1930's aged around 11 or 12 and worked in a sweat shop in New York. She was a Catholic or anti-Catholic more so.-She was a Socialist, a Feminist and movie critic. She learned English through the theatre,  and wore mens jackets and shoes and a large hat most of the time. John found a shop that she used to use to pickup new films from, they described her as the "keep your distance from me" type, but was also outspoken. She loved foreign films and didn't care much for American.
Between 20-30,000 of the 100,000 rolls of negatives Maloof acquired had not even been developed! She never told or showed anyone her work. She died in 2009 at 83 years old, Maier regrets never visiting her (fearing her frailty) wishing he could have met the woman who now has inspired him to get his own version of her camera and take up photography himself.
Her work goes on show across the globe regularly and if you'd like to learn more about the wonder of Maier, click on this link to my friends at Artsy!

All images taken by Vivian Maier via http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/