John Maloof on Vivian Maier’s negs
12 Jan
The auction house where Maloof bought the negs
Blake has conducted a Q&A with John Maloof, Vivian Maier’s archivist, so to speak. He sums up the arc of Maier’s work:
I have good reason to believe she began taking pictures in about 1949. Negatives from this year and even a year later have a beginner look to them. They are either over or under-exposed, out of focus, clumsy compositions, etc. But by the time she came back to New York from France in 1951, she had a good sense of her own interests and curiosities as a photographer. From 1951 to the mid-1970′s, her work was solid with no noticeable learning curve from what I can tell.
She switches to color in the mid 70′s, uses a 35mm camera. Her work becomes more abstract in some respects, but also very literal in others. Her abstract work often involves found objects either on the curb, in a garbage can or a similar setting. Some are quite good but there are so many that just leaving me scratching my head as to what she was trying to get across with the picture. The literal work is usually angled towards political, racial, or religious views. She seemed to be a liberal and of no known religious beliefs and so she would document graffiti, newspaper headlines, and racist slogans on park benches, for example.
And on something that’s been speculated about here and there – his curatorial touch:
Joel [Meyerowitz] cautioned me early on not to slant the work in ways to reflect other photographers such as Arbus or other influences. If I were to post all of only work that resembled, for example Institute of Design photographers, then, although it would still be good work, it would look like derivative work from photographers such as Calahan or Siskin or Ishimoto.
Near the end of the interview Maloof mentions that he anticipates problems with institutional housing of Maier’s work. This is really interesting in terms of the concerns about critical reception and institutional acceptance that were discussed in a previous post. How Maloof handles the preservation of these negatives is going to set a precedent for how art photography can be presented to the public without institutional support. Of course, organizations like the Chicago Cultural Center are still involved, but no one’s really waiting for MOMA and the like’s seal of approval as far as I’m concerned.
Blake on the other hand seems to think that such a thing is key to truly widespread recognition of her work. I can see his point, but I see this moment as more of an emblem of the rise of the web. That something like this could’ve happened without mass media and institutional promotion would be nigh unimaginable before these last ten years. Even though MOMA rejected the body of work, if a Maier show came to Rayko or Pier 24, I think there’s enough online recognition of the work in photo circles that many many people here would make the trek to see it. A lot of this stems from the interesting provence of the negatives, but frankly I don’t see that as detracting in any way from the quality of her work. No more than any star artist’s larger than life personality does anyhow.
Take a look at the post for more juicy details, including how exactly Maloof came to own all of the negs and what condition the undeveloped rolls of film are in. Good stuff.
If you want to personally support the project, you can make a Kickstarter pledge toward the documentary film they are planning and reap some rewards (a download of the film, a DVD, the Powerhouse book…). I have to admit it is the first time I’ve backed a project on Kickstarter; I’m really looking forward to seeing how all this pans out. They have reached their goal, so the film will be made, but hey, there are still 61 days left to go – why stop there? The more the merrier, kiddies!
