www.smithsonianmag.com Open in urlscan Pro
172.67.5.56  Public Scan

Form analysis
2 forms found in the DOM

/search/

<form class="search-form" action="/search/">
  <input placeholder="Search..." type="text" name="q">
  <button type="submit"><i class="fas fa-search" aria-hidden="true"></i></button>
</form>

POST /acoustic/add_history/

<form method="post" action="/acoustic/add_history/">
  <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email Address" required="" id="id_email">
  <input type="submit" value="Sign Up" name="submit" class="history">
  <p class="terms-info"><a href="/privacy">Click to visit our Privacy Statement</a>.</p>
  <input type="hidden" name="history_opt_source" id="id_history_opt_source" value="In-Article Signup">
</form>

Text Content

Sections



Subscribe Renew Shop
Subscribe Give a Gift Renew
 * Smart News
   * History
   * Science
   * Innovation
   * Arts & Culture
   * Travel
 * History
   * Archaeology
   * U.S. History
   * World History
   * Video
   * Newsletter
 * Science
   * Human Behavior
   * Mind & Body
   * Our Planet
   * Space
   * Wildlife
   * Newsletter
 * Innovation
   * Innovation for Good
   * Education
   * Energy
   * Health & Medicine
   * Sustainability
   * Technology
   * Video
   * Newsletter
 * Arts & Culture
   * Museum Day
   * Art
   * Books
   * Design
   * Food
   * Music & Film
   * Video
   * Newsletter
 * Travel
   * Africa & the Middle East
   * Asia Pacific
   * Europe
   * Central and South America
   * U.S. & Canada
   * Journeys
   * Newsletter
 * At The Smithsonian
   * Visit
   * Exhibitions
   * New Research
   * Artifacts
   * Curators' Corner
   * Ask Smithsonian
   * Podcasts
   * Voices
   * Newsletter
 * Podcast
 * Photos
   * Photo Contest
   * Instagram
 * Video
   * Original Series
   * Smithsonian Channel

 * Newsletters
 * Shop

Women Who Shaped History

A Smithsonian magazine special report

History | July 9, 2024


MEET VIVIAN MAIER, THE RECLUSIVE NANNY WHO SECRETLY BECAME ONE OF THE BEST
STREET PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The self-taught artist is getting her first museum exhibition in New York City,
where she nurtured her nascent interest in photography


A self-portrait taken in New York by Vivian Maier in 1954 © Estate of Vivian
Maier / Maloof Collection / Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY

Ellen Wexler

Assistant Editor, Humanities



Vivian Maier took more than 150,000 photographs as she scoured the streets of
New York and Chicago. She rarely looked at them; often, she didn’t even develop
the negatives. Without any formal training, she created a sprawling body of work
that demonstrated a wholly original way of looking at the world. Today, she is
considered one of the best street photographers of the 20th century.

Maier’s photos provide audiences with a tantalizing peek behind the curtain into
a remarkable mind. But she never intended to have an audience. A nanny by trade,
she rarely showed anyone her prints. In her final years, she stashed five
decades of work in storage lockers, which she eventually stopped paying for.
Their contents went to auction in 2007.



Many of Maier’s photos ended up with amateur historian John Maloof, who
purchased 30,000 negatives for about $400. In the years that followed, he sought
out other collectors who had purchased boxes from the same lockers. He didn’t
learn the photographer’s identity until 2009, when he found her name scrawled on
an envelope among the negatives. A quick Google search revealed that Maier had
died just a few days earlier. Uncertain of how to proceed, Maloof started
posting her images online.

“I guess my question is, what do I do with this stuff?” he wrote in a Flickr
post. “Is this type of work worthy of exhibitions, a book? Or do bodies of work
like this come up often? Any direction would be great.”

A man with a baby in New York's Central Park on September 26, 1959 © Estate of
Vivian Maier / Maloof Collection / Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY

Maier quickly became a sensation. Everyone wanted to know about the recluse who
had so adeptly captured 20th-century America. Her life and work have since been
the subject of a best-selling book, a documentary and exhibitions around the
world.

Now, the self-taught photographer is headlining her first major American
retrospective. “Vivian Maier: Unseen Work,” which is currently on view at
Fotografiska New York, features some 230 pieces from the 1950s through the
1990s, including black-and-white and color photos, vintage and modern prints,
films, and sound recordings. The show is also billed as the first museum
exhibition in Maier’s hometown, the city where she nurtured her nascent interest
in photography.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Born in New York City in 1926, Maier grew up mostly in France, where she began
experimenting with a Kodak Brownie, an affordable early camera designed for
amateurs. After returning to New York in 1951, she purchased a Rolleiflex, a
high-end camera held at the waist, and began developing her signature style:
images of everyday life framed with a stark humor and intuitive understanding of
human emotion. She started working as a governess, a role that allowed her to
spend hours wandering the city, children in tow, as she snapped away.

She left New York about five years later, when she secured a job as a nanny for
three boys—John, Lane and Matthew Gensburg—in the Chicago suburbs. The family
was devoted to Maier, though they knew very little about her. The boys remember
attending art films and picking wild strawberries as her charges, but they don’t
recall her ever mentioning any family or friends. Their parents knew that Maier
traveled—they would hire a replacement nanny in her absence—but they didn’t know
where she went.

A woman in Chicago on May 16, 1957 © Estate of Vivian Maier / Maloof Collection
/ Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY

“You really wouldn’t ask her about it at all,” Nancy Gensburg, the boys’ mother,
told Chicago magazine in 2010. “I mean, you could, but she was private. Period.”

Despite Maier’s reclusive tendencies, the Gensburgs knew about her photography.
It would have been difficult to hide. After all, she lived with the family and
had a private bathroom, which she used as a darkroom to develop black-and-white
photos herself. The Gensburgs frequently witnessed her taking photos; on rare
occasions, she even showed them her prints.

Maier stayed with the Gensburgs until the early 1970s, when the boys were too
old for a nanny. She spent the next few decades working in other caretaking
roles, though she doesn’t appear to have developed a similar relationship with
these families, who viewed her as a competent caregiver with an eccentric
personality. Most never saw her prints, though they do remember her moving into
their homes with hundreds of boxes of photos in tow.

A little girl in Chicago on May 16, 1957 © Estate of Vivian Maier / Maloof
Collection / Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY


“I once saw her taking a picture inside a refuse can,” talk show host Phil
Donahue, who employed Maier as a nanny for less than a year, told Chicago
magazine. “I never remotely thought that what she was doing would have some
special artistic value.”

Meanwhile, the Gensburgs kept in touch. As Maier grew older, they took care of
her, eventually moving her to a nursing home. They never knew about the storage
lockers. When she died at age 83, a short obituary appeared in the Chicago
Tribune, describing her as a “second mother” to the three boys, a “free and
kindred spirit,” and a “movie critic and photographer extraordinaire.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maier’s mysterious backstory is a large part of her present-day appeal. Fans are
captivated by the photos, but they’re also intrigued by the reclusive nanny who
developed her talents in secret. “Vivian Maier the mystery, the discovery and
the work—those three parts together are difficult to separate,” Anne Morin,
curator of the new exhibition, tells CNN.

An untitled photo taken in 1958 © Estate of Vivian Maier / Maloof Collection /
Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY

The show is meant to focus on the work rather than the mystery. As Morin says to
the Art Newspaper, she hopes to avoid “imposing an overexposed interpretation of
her character.” Instead, the exhibition aims to elevate Maier’s name to the
level of other famous street photographers—such as Robert Frank and Diane
Arbus—and take on the daunting task of examining her large oeuvre.



“In ten years, we could do another completely different show,” Morin tells CNN.
“She has more than enough material to bring to the table.”

The subjects of Maier’s street photos ran the gamut, but she often turned her
lens toward “people on the margins of society who weren’t usually photographed
and of whom images were rarely published,” per a statement from Fotografiska New
York. The Gensburg boys recall her taking them all over the city, adamant that
they witness what life was like beyond the confines of their affluent suburb.

The exhibition is organized thematically, with sections devoted to Maier’s
famous street photos, her experimental abstract compositions and her stylized
self-portraits. The self-portraits, which frequently incorporate mirrors and
reflections, amplify her enigmatic qualities, usually showing her with a
deadpan, focused expression. Her voice can be heard in numerous audio
recordings, which play throughout the exhibition. As such, even as the show
focuses on the work, Maier the person is still a frequent presence in it.

Finding Vivian Maier - Official Movie Trailer
Watch on


“The paradox of Vivian Maier is that the lifetime of anonymity that has captured
the public imagination persists in the work,” writes art critic Arthur Lubow for
the New York Times, adding, “An artist uses a camera as a tool of
self-expression. Maier was a supremely gifted chameleon. After immersing myself
in her work, other than detecting a certain wryness, I could not get much sense
of her sensibility.”



The artist undoubtedly possessed a curiosity about her immediate surroundings,
which she photographed with a “lack of self-consciousness,” Sophie Wright, the
New York museum’s director, tells CNN. “There’s no audience in mind.” There is
no evidence that Maier wondered about her viewers—or that she ever imagined
having viewers in the first place. They, however, will never stop wondering
about her.

“Vivian Maier: Unseen Work” is on view at Fotografiska New York through
September 29.

Get the latest History stories in your inbox?

Click to visit our Privacy Statement.

Ellen Wexler | | READ MORE

Ellen Wexler is Smithsonian magazine’s assistant digital editor, humanities.


Filed Under: Art, Arts, Chicago, Exhibitions, Exhibits, Museums, New York City,
Photographers, Photography, Visual Arts, Women's History


Explore

 * Smart News
 * History
 * Science
 * Innovation
 * Arts & Culture
 * Travel
 * At The Smithsonian
 * Podcast
 * Photos
 * Video

Subscribe

 * Subscribe
 * Give a gift
 * Renew
 * Manage My Account

Newsletters

 * Sign Up

Content Licensing

Our Partners

 * Smithsonian Institution
 * Smithsonian.com
 * Smithsonian Store
 * Smithsonian Journeys
 * Smithsonian Channel
 * Smithsonian Books
 * Smithsonian Membership

Terms of Use

 * About Smithsonian
 * Contact Us
 * Advertising
 * RSS
 * Member Services
 * Sustainability
 * Terms of Use
 * Privacy Statement
 * Cookie Policy
 * Advertising Notice

© 2024 Smithsonian Magazine Privacy Statement Cookie Policy Terms of Use
Advertising Notice Your Privacy Rights Manage Preferences





WE CARE ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY

We and our 849 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or
unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting "I Accept" enables tracking
technologies to support the purposes shown under "we and our partners process
data to provide," whereas selecting "Reject All" or withdrawing your consent
will disable them. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may
not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or
withdraw consent at any time by clicking the ["privacy preferences"] link on the
bottom of the webpage [or the floating icon on the bottom-left of the webpage,
if applicable]. Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more
details, refer to our Privacy Policy.


WE AND OUR PARTNERS PROCESS DATA TO PROVIDE:

Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for
identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised
advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research
and services development. List of Partners (vendors)

Reject All I Accept
Show Purposes



ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY

We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the
delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our
website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent and
legitimate interest. You may exercise your right to consent or object to a
legitimate interest, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in
the link under each purpose. These choices will be signaled to our vendors
participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
More information
Allow All


MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and
improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the
most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All
information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you
do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and
will not be able to monitor its performance.

FUNCTIONAL COOKIES

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and
personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose
services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some
or all of these services may not function properly.

SOCIAL MEDIA COOKIES

Social Media Cookies

These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to
the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They
are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a
profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on
other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able
to use or see these sharing tools.

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

Always Active

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched
off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you
which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy
preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block
or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will then not work.

TARGETING COOKIES

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may
be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you
relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information
but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you
do not allow these cookies, you will still see ads, but they will not be
targeted based on your online activities.

STORE AND/OR ACCESS INFORMATION ON A DEVICE 687 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE

Store and/or access information on a device

Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers,
randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other
information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported
technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each
time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes
presented here.

List of IAB Vendors‎ | View Illustrations 

PERSONALISED ADVERTISING AND CONTENT, ADVERTISING AND CONTENT MEASUREMENT,
AUDIENCE RESEARCH AND SERVICES DEVELOPMENT 813 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE

Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement,
audience research and services development

 * USE LIMITED DATA TO SELECT ADVERTISING 623 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data,
   such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your
   device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for
   example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
   
   View Illustrations 
   Object to Legitimate Interests Remove Objection

 * CREATE PROFILES FOR PERSONALISED ADVERTISING 502 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS
   PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit,
   content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about
   you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and
   other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or
   improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and
   personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present
   advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by
   this and other entities.
   
   View Illustrations 

 * USE PROFILES TO SELECT PERSONALISED ADVERTISING 499 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS
   PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising
   profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites
   or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests
   and personal aspects.
   
   View Illustrations 

 * CREATE PROFILES TO PERSONALISE CONTENT 223 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you
   submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with
   other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service
   or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or
   improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible
   interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to
   present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests,
   such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is
   even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
   
   View Illustrations 

 * USE PROFILES TO SELECT PERSONALISED CONTENT 196 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content
   personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other
   services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible
   interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the
   order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to
   find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
   
   View Illustrations 

 * MEASURE ADVERTISING PERFORMANCE 727 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you
   interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for
   you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For
   instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led
   you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to
   understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
   
   View Illustrations 
   Object to Legitimate Interests Remove Objection

 * MEASURE CONTENT PERFORMANCE 365 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact
   with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g.
   reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance,
   whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a
   product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you
   visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of
   (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
   
   View Illustrations 
   Object to Legitimate Interests Remove Objection

 * UNDERSTAND AUDIENCES THROUGH STATISTICS OR COMBINATIONS OF DATA FROM
   DIFFERENT SOURCES 460 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user
   profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your
   interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising)
   content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which
   target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain
   contents).
   
   View Illustrations 
   Object to Legitimate Interests Remove Objection

 * DEVELOP AND IMPROVE SERVICES 548 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction
   with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and
   to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of
   audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or
   improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
   
   View Illustrations 
   Object to Legitimate Interests Remove Objection

 * USE LIMITED DATA TO SELECT CONTENT 132 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS PURPOSE
   
   Switch Label
   
   Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such
   as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device
   type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example,
   to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
   
   View Illustrations 
   Object to Legitimate Interests Remove Objection

List of IAB Vendors‎

USE PRECISE GEOLOCATION DATA 262 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS SPECIAL FEATURE

Use precise geolocation data

With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500
metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.

List of IAB Vendors‎

ACTIVELY SCAN DEVICE CHARACTERISTICS FOR IDENTIFICATION 126 PARTNERS CAN USE
THIS SPECIAL FEATURE

Actively scan device characteristics for identification

With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be
requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed
fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes
explained in this notice.

List of IAB Vendors‎

ENSURE SECURITY, PREVENT AND DETECT FRAUD, AND FIX ERRORS 519 PARTNERS CAN USE
THIS SPECIAL PURPOSE

Always Active

Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent
activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure
systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct
any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery
of content and ads and in your interaction with them.

List of IAB Vendors‎ | View Illustrations 

DELIVER AND PRESENT ADVERTISING AND CONTENT 522 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS SPECIAL
PURPOSE

Always Active

Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to
ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to
facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.

List of IAB Vendors‎ | View Illustrations 

MATCH AND COMBINE DATA FROM OTHER DATA SOURCES 364 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS FEATURE

Always Active

Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with
other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for
instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card
in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in
this notice.

List of IAB Vendors‎

LINK DIFFERENT DEVICES 330 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS FEATURE

Always Active

In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be
considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your
household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both
your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet
connection on both devices).

List of IAB Vendors‎

IDENTIFY DEVICES BASED ON INFORMATION TRANSMITTED AUTOMATICALLY 497 PARTNERS CAN
USE THIS FEATURE

Always Active

Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it
automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of
your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the
purposes exposed in this notice.

List of IAB Vendors‎

SAVE AND COMMUNICATE PRIVACY CHOICES 326 PARTNERS CAN USE THIS SPECIAL PURPOSE

Always Active

The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice
are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals
(such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this
service and those entities to respect such choices.

List of IAB Vendors‎ | View Illustrations 
Back Button


COOKIE LIST



Search Icon
Filter Icon

Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label

Reject All Confirm My Choices