
What Vivian Maier Saw in Color (2018) - benbreen
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/what-vivian-maier-saw-in-color
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Jun8
“One question that has dogged the discovery of Maier’s photography is how a
lowly nanny could make such high art. Let’s call that sexism. I’ve never heard
anyone ask how another exceptional Chicago outsider, the visionary writer and
artist Henry Darger, could have produced his fifteen-thousand-page magnum opus
while holding down a job as a janitor.”

Really? That’s precisely the question many people ask about Darger (his stuff
is beyond description, you should check it out) or any other Outsider artist,
for that matter. Natural talent and genius? Of course. A ton of time available
due to loneliness (these artists are mostly alone) to hone your art and
practice? Another important factor. And the side effects of that loneliness.

~~~
GuiA
The expression "outsider artist" is so silly, and very reflective of the
culture and mindset that engendered it. As if there were a normative "inside"
that "real artists" belong to, and that everything else is an anomaly of
sorts. Following that definition to its logical conclusion, the overwhelming
majority of artists who have lived on this planet have been "outsider
artists".

Creating art is a fundamental aspect of the human condition, and this
categorization serves no purpose except the ones of pompous art dealers and
critics.

~~~
piffey
Your comment is so pointed and concise that I expected it to be a formal
quotation when it reached its end.

The need to feel unique leads people into these camps of delusion. This
delusion is up there with the fallacy that art can only come from suffering or
that being destitute is a requirement for empathetic art.

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anderber
I wish I could verbalize why I like her photos so much. Perhaps it's the
nostalgia they bring, but honestly it's much more. She had an eye for
capturing something interesting among the mundane. The photo of the guy in the
yellow shorts/shirt/socks could have been out of a Wes Anderson film.

~~~
larrywright
I feel the same way, and I think nostalgia is a big part of it. Not only did
she have an eye for capturing interesting things, but she also had a high
quality medium format camera to do it with. They’re a much better quality than
most pictures we’ve seen of that era, outside of what appeared in magazines.

~~~
10729287
The medium format quality definititely have nothing to do with it. A lot of
people were shooting Rolleiflex in those times, the talent made the
difference.

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platz
She wasn't highly trained in formalism, in a way that interests photography
critics, but did capture a large number idiosyncratic moments.

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ngcc_hk
And it is not very good. His black and white is so much better.

~~~
ghostly_s
Well you must be the expert considering you can't even get her gender right.

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pmoriarty
Vivian Maier's photographs are so overrated. She'd be completely forgotten
today had she simply exhibited her photos throughout her life instead of being
so dramatically and romantically "discovered" at the end.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
Absolutely not true. She had a rare eye that combined human insight with an
unusual talent for composition with flashes of humour.

She didn't exhibit during her life because there were virtually no outlets for
women photographers who weren't born rich and well connected, or who didn't
find a way into straight photojournalism.

You don't take photos like this one by accident:

[http://cdn.vivianmaier.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/VM1956...](http://cdn.vivianmaier.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/VM1956W03409-10-MC.jpg)

~~~
larrywright
Also notable is that she could not have exhibited these pictures in her
lifetime - most of them were left undeveloped.

