In Pictures: Vivian Maier’s Unseen Photographs
The University of Chicago Library has received a gift of over 2,700 photographs by the late American street photographer
The University of Chicago Library has received a gift of over 2,700 photographs by the late American street photographer
The University of Chicago has received a gift of more than 2,700 photographs by street photographer Vivian Maier, many of which have never been displayed. John Maloof, a director and writer with a large collection of Maier’s photographs, made the donation to the University of Chicago library. Included in the selection are black-and-white and colour photographs taken in Chicago, where Maier lived, as well as on her travels.
Maier took over 150,000 photographs in her lifetime, however her images remained unpublished until they attracted critical acclaim in 2007. Maier’s life has since become the subject of films and books, including Christina Hesselholdt’s newly-translated book, Vivian (2016/2019). Writing in frieze in June, Tom Overton described the novel: ‘Hesselholdt brings Maier to life, luminously: looking down into the viewfinder on the top of her Rolleiflex camera, seeing the image for the first and last time.’ Below are a selection of images from this new acquisition.
