Artist of Influence: Vivian Maier

I came across this blog via Lauren Beacham and was really blown away. Vivian Maier was a street photographer in Chicago from the 1950s to the 1990s. She was completely undiscovered and destined for obscurity until her negatives were acquired at an auction by John Maloof, who then started developing the photographs and sharing them with the rest of the world.

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Interest in Maier’s powerful work quickly escalated — and there is now a feature length documentary in the works, Finding Vivian Maier.

And an exhibition of her photographs is opening at the Chicago Cultural Center this Saturday, January 8. The show runs through April 3.

I only wish Vivian was still here to enjoy the recognition, but then again, from the sound of things, maybe she didn’t want to be known in her lifetime. Thanks to John Maloof for rescuing these images and bringing them to light.

The Imagine Nation

To me the imagination

is a place all by itself

a separate country.

 

You’ve heard of the French

or the British nation.

 

Well, this is

the lmagine nation.

 

It’s a wonderful place.

 

How would you like to make

snowballs in the summertime?

 

Or drive a big bus

right down  5th Avenue?

 

How would you like to have

a ship all to yourself

that makes daily trips

to China and Australia?

 

How would you like to be

the Statue of Liberty

in the morning

 

and in the afternoon

fly south with a flock of geese?

 

It’s very simple.

 

Of course, it takes practice.



 

-Kris Kringle (Miracle on 34th Street)

 

 

Will be on vacation until the 30th, then back to your regularly scheduled programming. Happy Holidays!